A Western Love Story
by rexlover180
Summary: Arthur, a simple Englishman, has just moved to a small town in Oklahoma in 1907. He knows enough about himself to know that he is in love with a cowboy. But the cowboy's not so sure about it. USUK
1. Chapter 1

Arthur Kirkland considered himself a simple man. He did simple things, like drink tea and read. He didn't want much in the world, and he didn't expect much out of the people in it. Living in the 20th century, he figured that he had life figured out. You stay quiet, you mind your Ps and Qs, and you just might make it out alive.

Arthur was only 17, not very old, but still not very young. He could make his own decisions at this point and he had common sense to not do anything stupid. Except for his last major decision, the minute he said he would do it, he knew it would blow up in his face. He and his brothers had gotten in a fight. Being the youngest of four, he would always lose, so he threatened something that he should never even had thought of. He threatened to move from England to America.

That got his brother's attention alright. And when they said he wouldn't do it, Arthur started packing his bags. And then his brothers, being the ass holes that they are, bought him a ticket on a ship headed for Boston, Massachusetts.

Arthur didn't know what he was going to do, now that he was in America. But he did know one thing for sure, he hated the city. And he was told that he should move to the West, where there were territories not yet admitted into the Union. And so now, here Arthur was, hitchhiking on a wagon with cowboys, headed towards a territory called Oklahoma. Arthur figured that the only reason he was on the convoy was because all of the girls were begging their cowboys for him to come alone with them.

A few more things to know about Arthur, he wasn't bad looking, but he didn't try. All he did in the morning was mess up his messy mop of blonde hair, but every woman he met would fall in love with it. And he was always tired and always feeling bags under his eyes, but every woman would say that they were beautiful. And then there was the way he talked. Every American woman fell in love with the way he talked, they said it was his accent. But Arthur found that, like always, he was never attracted to any of the women who clung to his arms like magnets.

Like they were doing now. Even as he sat in the back of the wagon, hoping to look at the sky in peace, there were maybe three girls around him. One on either arm and one just behind him. They were talking about nothing, like usual, but they seemed riveted. Arthur, on the other hand, was bored to no end.

"So, what's your hometown like?" the woman on his right asked him.

"Well, it rains," Arthur sighed and all of the girls giggled. "It's not all that exciting, to be honest."

"I bet ya had plenty o' girls falling over you there," the woman behind him said excitedly. Another thing Arthur noticed here is that he disliked the accents of the people more and more the deeper he got into the country.

"Not all that much," Arthur said, removing the girl on his left's hand from his thigh.

"Bet yer were still a ladies man, ah reckon," a cowboy who was walking behind their wagon muttered.

"Didn't try to be," Arthur muttered in return.

"That's so cool!" a woman squealed. "How yer can be so cute, but not even try!"

"Sure is," Arthur muttered sarcastically.

"So yer from Britain, right?" the cowboy asked him and Arthur nodded. "Now, ah wouldn't go showin' that off here. Ah still don' like Britain after what it did a coupla hundred year ago."

"Well, I'm sorry," Arthur said. "But I had nothing to do with that."

"Sure, ye didn't," the cowboy sighed. "Ah'm also gonna warn yer. Most men don' take kindly to watchin' their women get stolen in fron' of their eyes. So, try not to talk when ye get ter yer Oklahoma town."

"Sure thing," Arthur nodded.

The girls continued to flirt with him for what felt like forever until the wagons finally stopped.

"Ye can get off now," a different cowboy told Arthur and the women instinctively clung onto Arthur tighter. "Town's just down there a way."

"Right," Arthur sighed, slipping down from the wagon. He had to say, he felt severely overdressed. Here he was, dressed in a suit, surrounded by men with dusty trousers and rolled up shirts and vests. The girls handed him down his suitcase and he nodded goodbye to them. He had to say, he was very happy as he watched them drive off, driven by horses.

Arthur looked over to where the man said the town was. There was a tiny dirt road that led off of the main dirt road and Arthur could faintly see the outline of a town far away. The sun was still high in the sky, he would have plenty of time to get there before the sun went down.

Arthur sighed and started walking. Why the hell did he have to have that stupid fight with his brothers? Now he was going to be stuck here in America for his whole life. He knew he would not be able to even look at his brothers if he came back to England.

Arthur didn't even get halfway before he heard the sound of horses running behind him. Before he knew it, one horse swept by his right side, the wind it created blowing his hair in front of his face.

"Woohoo! Well, lookie here!" a man shouted in front of him as a second horse ran a little slower on his other side. Arthur could see clearly the cowboy in front of him, he had dark hair that stuck out from underneath his hat and he had dark brown eyes. His outfit was simple, just jeans and a plaid shirt rolled up to just past his elbows. "Looks like fresh meat! Watcha think Alfred? Should we lasso him up an' bring him to town? Have 'im fer supper!"

_Oh, dear God, _Arthur thought to himself and stopped walking.

"Whatcha all dressed up for!" the cowboy called out to Arthur. "Seeing a purty lady?"

"Just traveling," Arthur said quickly, hoping to hide his accent from this man.

"Well now, ain't that voice special?" the cowboy cackled from on top of his horse. "Yo, Alfie! You should get 'im to Jim. See what he has to say 'bout 'im."

"No problem, Chuck," the man that Arthur supposed was Alfred finally spoke and rode ahead of Arthur slightly. This was Arthur's first good look at him. He was obviously younger than 'Chuck.' And he seemed a little more innocent, too. He wore a black hat, but his sandy, long hair stuck out underneath it. There was a tiny part of his hair, too, that stuck up right in front of his hat. His eyes matched the color of the cloudless sky above him. He had on a plain, blue shirt that he allowed to go down his whole arm, with a brown vest over it. He work dark jeans and light brown boots with spurs on them.

One more thing to know about Arthur; he was gay. He wasn't a flamboyant gay, like a Frenchman he knew back in England. But he did not like women, he knew that for sure. And there were certain men that attracted his attention more than most. This Alfred turned out to be one of those men.

Alfred could feel himself blush as he saw Alfred ride by on his horse. He tried to hide it by looking down and started walking again.

"So, what's yer name, stranger?" Alfred asked, his voice was softer than the other cowboy's.

"A-Arthur," Arthur stuttered, looking back up to Alfred.

"I…ah'm Alfred," Alfred shook his head furiously at the first word, like it was wrong.

"Nice to meet you, Alfred," Arthur nodded to him.

"So where's that accent from?" Alfred asked him.

"Um, England," Arthur said.

"Oh, yeah," Alfred rubbed the back of his head. "Knew that…"

Arthur chuckled slightly to himself. "So you live here, Alfred?"

"Um, y-yeah," Alfred said somehow uneasily. "Chuck's my…mah mentor right now. Since ah'm so young and stuff…"

"Nice mentor," Arthur sighed.

"Well, it's all ah got," Alfred said. "I wanna get away from this place soon as possible. He's my…mah best chance."

"Why do you keep on correcting yourself?" Arthur asked him.

"W-what?" Alfred seemed dumbfounded with the question.

"You keep on correcting yourself," Arthur said. "You say the proper word, but then switch it."

"Well," Alfred scratched his head. "That's 'cause…" Alfred trailed off as they entered the town. Arthur sighed. He already saw maybe 10 women turn their heads to them.

"Hey, Alfie!" a woman dressed in a purple dress with brown curls came up next to Alfred's horse. "Who's the fella with ya?"

"His name's Arthur," Alfred said, obviously relaxed, but still forcing the accent out.

"Well, ain't he cute?" another woman came up behind Alfred, this one with straight blonde hair in a bonnet and a fancy blue dress.

"Uh…erm," Alfred rubbed the back of his head nervously. Arthur looked up at Alfred curiously.

"Ah'm just kiddin' ya!" the woman laughed happily and Alfred visibly relaxed.

"I-ah'm just takin' him to Jim real quick," Alfred said.

"So, where's Chuck?" the brunette asked.

"I dunno," Alfred shrugged. "I saw him go over there a ways," Alfred pointed to a direction.

"Oooh," the blonde cooed. "He's probably gone to the city!"

"Maybe," Alfred said. Then Arthur felt someone poke his shoulder slightly. He turned to his left side, away from Alfred and saw 3 women looking at him in wonder.

"So, what's your name?" one of them asked.

"Arthur," Arthur said quickly, slightly scared of what would happen if they heard his accent.

"So, where you from?"

"We don't get many outsiders here."

"Um, England," Arthur said. "I'm from England."

"Oh, so that means you must know all about those manners and things!" a woman said excitedly.

"You should teach us some!"

"Has anyone told you yer accents cute?"

Arthur blushed at the last one. Mostly because that got Alfred's attention. His head turned around in the other direction to face them.

"Um, y-yes," Arthur nodded.

"No one 'round here looks like you," one girl said flirtatiously. "Most of 'em aren't very good lookin'. 'Cept maybe Alfie and Chuck."

"Yeah," one girl agreed with her. "They're the best catch in town!"

"But now that you're here…" one of them draped their arm over Arthur's shoulder. Arthur instinctively shrank away slightly.

"Hey, Alfred," a voice rang out, thick with seductiveness. A woman appeared with dark brown curls coming down from a bonnet. She had a pink hoop dress and her blue eyes nearly sparkled. She walked like a woman who meant business.

"Howdy, Veronica," Alfred nodded, holding onto his hat as he did so. Arthur noticed that there was a flicker in his face that said he didn't want to see her.

"Who's the fresh meat?" she asked, reminding Arthur of Chuck.

"Arthur," Alfred said, the rest of the women herding around them chiming in.

"Popular, I see," she said. "So where are you from, Arthur?"

Arthur was getting pretty tired of being asked that question.

"England," Arthur sighed and the rest of the women around him swooned.

Veronica scowled. "Well aren't you special?"

"Hey, um, listen ladies," Alfred cleared his throat. "'m sure Artie's a little tired from his travels. So, if ye could leave 'im alone fer now, that would be nice. Yer all lovely, don' get me wrong, but he's obviously not used to all this attention."

"Oh, come on, Alfie!" all of them seemed to complain at once.

"Please?" Alfred asked. The way he pleaded, mixed with his forced southern drawl, was just adorable to Arthur. But not just to him, all of the girls practically sighed dreamily and eventually left. All, but Veronica.

"You don't need me to leave, do ya, Alfie," Veronica said.

"Ah would like it very much if ya did…" Alfred rubbed the back of his head.

Veronica giggled. "Posh. You know you want me here with ya."

"I…ah don't think I do," Alfred said uneasily.

"Well, why not?" Veronica complained.

"Ah just think yer makin' Artie uncomfortable," Alfred shrugged.

"You know, my name is Arthur," Arthur said to him. "Not Artie."

"You wanna be alone with yer new best friend," Veronica shrugged. "Be mah guest." Arthur noticed that she seemed to be more polite with Alfred than she was with him. Arthur watched as she walked away slickly.

"I'm sorry about them," Alfred rubbed the back of his head. "They can all be a bit weird sometimes."

"So that's what you sound like without that stupid accent," Arthur grinned as Alfred's eyes widened. He didn't know why it was such a big deal he didn't talk like that, but Alfred seemed completely concerned.

"Oh, God, please don't tell anyone," Alfred pleaded with him.

Arthur chuckled before responding. "Your secret's safe with me."

"Th-thanks," Alfred muttered as he stopped the horse. Arthur stopped soon after and watched as Alfred got down, off the horse, beside Arthur. This was Arthur's first real good look at the boy and it only made him blush more. He was thankful for the sun already giving him a burn so his face was already red. He had to admit, the second he got his first look at Alfred, Arthur had a crush.

"N-no problem," Arthur barely managed out. They continued walking, Alfred leading his horse while strolling next to Arthur.

"You have a place to stay while you're here?" Alfred asked, completely giving up on his accent now.

"Actually, no," Arthur sighed. "I hadn't thought about it."

"Well, there's an extra room at my house if you want," Alfred offered.

"Sh-shouldn't you ask your parents before you invite me to stay with you?" Arthur asked, dumbfounded about what Alfred had just asked him.

"Nah," Alfred sighed. "They're never around in the first place. It's always just me and my brother defending ourselves." Alfred paused for a moment, and then looked up at the sky like he was daydreaming. "Someday, I'll get us out of here… Once I know how to take care of us on my own, we'll go off to the west, find a better place to settle..."

"What's so wrong with living here?" Arthur asked him delicately.

"Nothing, really," Alfred sighed. "But I just wanna get away, you know? Start some place new, where people don't know you."

"Yeah," Arthur sighed. "I know… So, what is your relationship with your brother?"

"Oh, we're close!" Alfred boasted. "He's my little brother, so I make it my responsibility to take care of him. We're twins, but he's kind of fragile, so I need to take care of him."

"Does he talk normally, like you do?" Arthur asked.

"Yeah," Alfred sighed. "Our pa taught us how to talk properly. He said that we should learn how to talk in case we go into the real world."

"He sounds like a smart man," Arthur said.

"He is," Alfred smiled and started daydreaming again.

"You know, it's funny," Alfred thought out loud after a while of silence. "I haven't told this to anyone. The truth that I'm faking my accent, that I want to leave, or even talking about my brother. I never do that with anyone else."

"Why do you think that is?" Arthur couldn't help but asking. But Alfred got distracted by the sight of a barn coming up. There was a rough looking man, maybe in his 30s, standing near the doorway, seeming to be messing with something on the inside. He had brown hair that looked like he only tried slightly to tidy up and had massive amounts of stubble littering his face. His eyes were a soft brown, though, defying the roughness of his face. He wore overalls over a red and white striped shirt.

"A-and then I wrangled up them cows all by mahself," Alfred started speaking loudly, no doubt for Jim. "Yah shoulda seen Chuck's face, he was so proud of meh! Oh, hey Jim!" Alfred waved to the man inside the barn and he looked up to them.

* * *

**Ta-da! This is a new story I've been working on recently. I got this idea when I went to go see my school's performance of Oklahoma. Don't ask me how this came out of that...it just kinda did...**

**Anywho...I'm sorry to those that don't like OCs, but this story is chock full of them, there are only 3 Hetalia characters. Sorry!**

**And please review, so that I will write more!**

**And I own nothing!**


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Alfie," Jim nodded to the two, leaving what he was doing in the barn. The second he saw Arthur, though, his gaze locked on him. He took out a rag and started wiping his hands on it as he looked Arthur up and down. "What's your name, son?"

"A-Arthur, Arthur Kirkland," Arthur managed out. It was starting to get extremely hot in his suit under all of this sun.

"So, you're from England?" Jim asked him.

"Am I that obvious?" Arthur chuckled slightly.

"Hey, Alfie, how' bout you put Freedom away?" he said, motioning to the horse. "It'll give me a chance to talk with Arthur a bit."

"Oh, um, sure," Alfred stuttered out. He turned to the right, leading the horse, Freedom, with him. Arthur saw him turn around and wave to him before he left his line of sight.

"So, why you here, Arthur?" Jim asked him, leaning against the door frame of the barn.

"Um, just trying to get away," Arthur rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

"I'm not gonna ask you for your reasons," Jim said and Arthur noticed that he didn't have much of an accent on him. He also seemed to be level headed, the only one like it in the town so far. "But, if all you want is to disappear, I believe you've come to the right place. I want you to know, you don't have to tell anyone here anything about yourself. People 'round here can be pushy, but you can feel free to ignore them. Especially Chuck, don't let him bother you any."

"I-I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Arthur nodded to him.

"And I'd suggest you change soon," Jim grinned slightly. "You look like a fish out of water."

"I-I'm sure none of my other clothes will prove much better," Arthur said nervously.

"That's fine!" Alfred's voice rang out happily and he leaned an arm on Arthur's shoulder, coming up from behind. "Ya can borrow some o' mah clothes! Ah'll make ya look spiffy."

Jim chuckled. "If you're with Alfie, I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Thanks, Jim," Alfred chuckled slightly. "Hey!" Alfred said excitedly, like he just remembered something. "We're havin' a party t'night! Artie, you should come!"

"Um, sure," Arthur said rather quietly compared to Alfred's shouting.

"I can already see him bein' the life of the party," Jim smirked and Alfred laughed.

"C'mon, Artie," Alfred grabbed onto both of Arthur's shoulders and turned him around. He started leading him towards what Arthur supposed was a line of houses. "Ah'll make ya look all nice and purty."

Arthur snickered. "You know, you sound pretty funny with your fake accent."

"Shut up," Alfred laughed. "You sound funny with your accent."

"But mine's not fake," Arthur grinned.

"And how would I know?" Alfred smirked. "You might be fakin' to get all the ladies."

"If I am, I'm a hell of a lot better at it than you are," Arthur said.

"I will have you know," Alfred said proudly, "I have half the ladies in this town! Chuck's got the other half."

"There must be some other side to him I didn't see," Arthur said. "Because I don't know how any woman could like someone like him."

"Oh, yeah, he's got another side," Alfred laughed. "In bed."

"You've got to be kidding me," Arthur chuckled.

"Nope," Alfred said as they came up to a porch to a house. He spoke again as they started going up the four steps to get to the door. "'m not." Alfred opened the door. "Mattie's probably not here, he might be farming…"

"So, do you follow Chuck's every example?" Arthur asked him, closing the door to the house.

"God, no," Alfred's face contorted with disgust. "I-I'm just 17, I don't even know what half the stuff he talks about even is."

Arthur laughed. "That's good."

Alfred rolled his eyes. "Here, my clothes are upstairs, just wait down here a sec while I get them."

Arthur nodded as Alfred retreated up the stairs. Arthur took this as his chance to look around the house. It wasn't much, not very big. On the floor he was on, he could see a kitchen with a wood burning stove and oven and a table. There was also a sitting area, which was just a couch and a rug. There was enough space on the bottom floor for maybe 4 small rooms upstairs. And the white porch only wrapped around the front, making a small deck. It wasn't much, but it was nice.

Arthur remembered his home back in England, it was nothing like this. It was more like a massive mansion with maybe 20 rooms, 2 kitchens, 5 sitting areas, and 3 dining rooms. He had no idea why his house was so big, they never had any guests around and it was just him and his 3 brothers after their parents died. He supposed the only reason they kept it was because it had meant so much to the parents. Arthur had no way of knowing if they still kept the house.

"So, what were you in England?" Alfred asked, coming down the stairs with a wad of clothes in his hands. "Some kind of rich kid?"

"Well, if you're saying that because of my clothes," Arthur said, taking the clothes Alfred offered to him, "practically everyone in England dresses like this. But you could say I was sort of rich. There were others far richer than me, though."

"The richest we get 'round here is Mary Lou. She owns the biggest house and the school. She's the wife of the mayor, but he's a dipshit. He doesn't do crap, she does all the work to make him look good." Alfred informed.

"Well, isn't that lovely," Arthur spoke.

"Um, I guess you could go upstairs to change," Alfred shuffled awkwardly, pointing a thumb in the direction of the stairs. "If you want…"

"Thank you," Arthur smiled at him and went upstairs. On the top of the stairs, there was a narrow, short hallway with three doors. So there were only three rooms…

Arthur decided to go through the door that was alone on its side of the hallway. The inside of this room was…unexpected. It looked like it was preserved to stay perfect. There were snow white curtains flowing elegantly from the wind coming out of the window. There was a fairly large bed against the far wall from the door. It's sheets and pillows matched the curtains. There was no sign of dust or dirt on even the wooden floor. There was a dresser next to the window, it seemed to be hand carved from several trees put together. And, on top, there were several knickknacks put on top in a perfect order. And on the opposite wall, there was a desk with a mirror on it. On the desk was an assortment of makeups and powders. Draped over the side of the chair in front of the desk was a pretty, yellow dress.

This was the parent's room. And it looked like the room hadn't been touched in maybe 2 years. Arthur stepped out quickly, closing the door. He got a strange feeling he shouldn't be in there. Afraid to risk seeing any other rooms, he changed quickly in the hallway. The clothes Alfred had picked for him were a red, plaid shirt and regular jeans. It was all a little big on him, but they were comfortable, so he couldn't protest. It seemed that everyone in this town was covered in dust, but these clothes were perfectly clean. To hide the fact that the shirt was too big, Arthur rolled up the sleeves to his elbows and tucked the shirt into the jeans.

When he came downstairs, he found Alfred leaning against the table in the kitchen, whistling a nameless tune. Alfred's attention went to him as Arthur put his wrinkled and dusty suit in his suitcase.

"Sweet, you're done," Alfred said after a while of quiet. "Oh, hey, you're gonna need some shoes."

"Is there something wrong with the shoes I have now?" Arthur asked him.

"Dress shoes aren't gonna cut it here," Alfred laughed. "You could borrow some of my boots if you want."

"You really don't need to give me a whole outfit," Arthur said, blushing slightly.

"Yeah, I do," Alfred said. "If you wanna fit in here."

"Fine then," Arthur sighed, giving up. "Give me the boots, then."

"Be right back," Alfred said, retreating upstairs. Arthur started stumbling with his own shoes to get them off. Eventually, though, Arthur pulled too hard on his shoe and he fell over onto the floor.

"Bloody hell," Arthur muttered as he finished getting that shoe off.

He heard Alfred laugh in the background and looked to see him standing on the last stair before the ground floor. He was holding two cowboy boots in one hand.

"I've never heard anyone say 'bloody' before!" he laughed. "That's freaking hilarious!"

"Just give me the boots," Arthur held out a hand to Alfred, who handed the boots to him obediently.

"Are you usually this clumsy?" Alfred laughed, watching Arthur pull the boots on. These were a little big on him, too, but he still said nothing about it.

"No, I'm not," Arthur said. "I don't know why I fell."

Soon after Arthur finished putting the boots on, Alfred appeared in front of him with his hand held out.

"Do you want help standing up?" Alfred offered.

"Thanks," Arthur said, grabbing onto the outstretched hand. He didn't know how strong Alfred was until he was yanked up. He lost his balance, it was so fast, and he wound up tumbling into Alfred's arms, his face against his chest. His face heated up rapidly as he pulled himself away.

"You sure you're not a klutz?" Alfred laughed.

"Yes, I'm sure!" Arthur barely got out, he was so flustered. "You just pulled me too hard."

"That's 'cause you're so freaking light," Alfred continued his laughing. "Do people even eat in England? No wonder my clothes are too big on you!"

"Yes, we eat in England!" Arthur couldn't help but laugh to and playfully pushed Alfred.

"Obviously not real food," Alfred leaned on Arthur's shoulder again. "Don't worry, though. We'll fix that right up here!"

"Get off me," Arthur smiled, shoving Alfred off his shoulder.

"Sun's goin' down," Alfred said, looking out a window. "Party's startin'. Let's go."

Arthur didn't even have a chance to protest before he was pulled out of the house and lurched by Alfred down, through the town.

"What's this party even for?" Arthur asked him, trying to keep up with how fast Alfred was walking.

"Veronica," Alfred said, with a tone of unhappiness in his voice. "She's turnin' 17 today."

"You don't sound very happy," Arthur chuckled.

"Hey, who can deny a good party?" Alfred said happily and continued to pull Arthur along.

"Where do you even hold parties here?" Arthur asked him. They were coming up to a rather large building. It's walls were a rectangle, but it was rounded at the top.

"Right there," Alfred said, starting to bring his drawl back, probably for the party. "We call it town hall. An' Chuck won' be there, 'cause he's in the city. Perfect night, right?"

"Sure," Arthur sighed as they came closer to the building.

"Wait," Alfred said right as they got in front of the doors to go in. He turned Arthur to face him and Arthur couldn't help but wonder what he was doing. Then, quickly, he took his hat off his head and plopped it onto Arthur's. "There, you'll fit in perfectly now," he said as he messed with his hair so it didn't show the impression from his hat.

Before Arthur had a chance to protest, though, Alfred pushed him through the doors and into the party.

* * *

**And here is chapter 2! My chapter 1 was so well loved, it made me happy! Fastest positive reactions I've ever gotten from a story.**

**I'm sorry this chapter is short, but the next chapter's the party, so you have something to look forward to. And Mattie's in the next chapter! Yeah!**

**And review, so that I will bring a chapter 3 into this mix.**

**And I own nothing.**


	3. Chapter 3

This party was not what Arthur was expecting. Immediately after being shoved into the room, he ran face first into the back of a woman's head.

She turned around slightly angrily and Arthur quickly stepped back.

"Oh, I-I'm so sorry, miss," he muttered out quickly. At the sound of his accent, the woman's expression softened. "I didn't mean to hit you."

"Oh, it's alright," the woman giggled, as did her friends. "You're that new kid ev'ryone's talkin' 'bout, right?"

"Oh, um, yes," Arthur mumbled, rubbing the back of his head the best he could with the cowboy hat.

"Ah was told you were in a suit," the girl smiled. "But, ah have to say, this is much better than a suit."

"But, isn't that Alfie's hat?" one of her friends asked.

"Sure is!" Alfred said proudly as he stepped up behind Arthur. "Ah gave it to 'im so he could fit in. Watcha think of it, ladies?"

"Cute," the woman Arthur ran into grinned and took one of Arthur's hands. Arthur just noticed a band playing in the background, made up of guitar sounding instruments and clanking metal. Surprisingly enough, they actually created a tune that was upbeat and sounded good. Almost everyone in the room was dancing to it. But it was a weird dance that Arthur didn't know even existed. All he knew were ballroom dances, that was all he was taught. This was so fast and lively, he didn't know what he would do.

"C'mon," the woman said cheerfully, lurching Arthur onto the dance floor. "Let's dance!"

_Oh, cock,_ Arthur thought to himself as he made sure the hat didn't fall off as he was tugged.

"Um," Arthur mumbled. "I-I can't dance…"

"Sure ya can!" the woman smiled at him. "Ya just move your feet! Like this." She grabbed onto Arthur's left hand and placed her other hand on his right shoulder. "And then you grab onto my waist," she prompted him and Arthur obeyed, blushing slightly. The woman laughed at his awkwardness. "Just follow my lead, okay?" she asked and Arthur nodded.

She stepped a short step backwards, and Arthur followed. She took another step, with her other foot, and Arthur followed again. She kept on doing that over and over again as they went in a circle around the dance floor and Arthur clumsily followed her.

"Ready for it to get a little bit harder?" the woman asked. Arthur stuttered and she laughed. "Come on," she slipped her hands so that they held onto Arthur's wrists. "Just turn around, okay?" Arthur nodded and started turning, not quite sure how well this was going to go. But the woman lifted up her arms and turned with him. Their arms went above their heads when they went almost back-to-back, and then they turned to face each other again.

"And now you take one of my hands," the woman prompted and Arthur dropped her left hand. "And then you turn me." Arthur did so, lifted his hand above her head and twisting his hand slightly. She responded by twirling in that direction. She turned once before facing him again. He tried to move his hand back down, but she kept it up. "Now you spin," she said.

"Um…" Arthur muttered and she moved her free hand to his side and shoved him to turn, which he stumbled in doing.

"Ya know, it's cute how ya can't dance," Alfred's voice said behind Arthur and leaned on Arthur's shoulder. "Mind if ah steal him for a sec, Sheri? Maybe ah can get rid of his two left feet."

Sheri giggled and nodded. "Okay, Alfie."

"Come 'ere," Alfred said, grabbing hold of Arthur's hands now.

"You know it's embarrassing to have to be taught how to dance by a guy," Arthur muttered.

"Well, ya obviously can't dance by yerself," Alfred laughed.

"I know how to dance," Arthur argued. "Just slow dances, not anything fast like this…"

"Well, look at your feet, 'cause your doin' it now," Alfred laughed. Arthur hadn't noticed until now, but Alfred had put his hand on Arthur's waist and had moved Arthur's hand to his shoulder. They were moving back and forth together across the dance floor easily.

"Bloody hell," Arthur stuttered. "When did…"

"The art of being distracting," Alfred grinned. "I believe I've mastered it."

"Don't act so cocky," Arthur laughed.

"Ready?" Alfred asked.

"For wha-" Arthur didn't get a chance to finish before Alfred grabbed onto his wrist and they both turned around together, still with Alfred holding onto his wrists. Alfred didn't give Arthur a chance to respond when they finished, he raised one of Arthur's hands and spun him around once, then Alfred spun, and then he spun Arthur again.

They went back to the two-step, Arthur's vision still spinning.

"What the hell was that?" Arthur asked him and Alfred laughed.

"Dancin'," Alfred smirked. "You wanna go again?"

Arthur stuttered, blushing even more now. "D-don't you think it's a bit awkward two men are dancing together?" he tried.

"C'mon! It's fun!" Alfred pleaded with him. Then he smirked. "What if I do this?" Alfred quickly let go of Arthur's left hand and stepped out so that he was right next to him, his arm widely held out. Arthur's eyes went wide, he knew where this was going. Before he had a chance to run away, though, Alfred pulled him in and Arthur twirled into him, Alfred's arm going around him. Quickly, Alfred grabbed onto Arthur's free hand and twirled him out in the other direction.

And then they resumed the first position and continued the two-step.

"Why?" Arthur muttered, fighting back a grin.

"Be thankful you were on beat," Alfred laughed. "Unlike when you were dancing with Sheri."

"Shut up," Arthur chuckled.

"Is it funny that you're better at the girl part than the guy part?" Alfred asked him, a large smile nearly cracking his face.

"You're having me dance the bloody girl part?" Arthur demanded.

"Well, you're just so feminine," Alfred grinned and they did the turn thing together, first turning together, then Arthur twice, then Alfred twice. They went back to the two-step.

"I am not!" Arthur argued.

"Then why are you so easy to spin?" Alfred asked. "Hey, I have an idea. Do you trust me?"

"I can't quite say I do," Arthur blushed. "I've only known you about a day."

"But do you trust me?" Alfred asked him. Staring into those blue eyes, Arthur couldn't help but almost melt. He took a deep breath, and sighed.

"Fine, I trust you," Arthur admitted.

"Sweet," Alfred smiled. "'Cause I've always wanted to try this."

"What are you-" Arthur didn't have a chance to finish his question before Alfred had picked him up bridal style. He didn't have any time to react to this before he was thrown up in the air, and he was sent up spinning horizontally. He was only up there one spin before he fell back into Alfred's arms. He wasn't allowed to say anything before he was landed on the ground and forced to twirl out to the side several times before he could steady himself.

And then he noticed for the first time that they had an audience. Said audience was applauding and cheering at them as Alfred came in and resumed the first position, but didn't take any steps.

"Fun, yeah?" Alfred asked.

"Good lord, that was terrifying," Arthur felt himself shudder.

"I've never actually done that!" Alfred said excitedly. "It was so much fun!"

"You never did that before?" Arthur asked him. "And you tried it on me?"

"Ev'ry one else seemed to enjoy it," Alfred grinned at him. They stood there for a while, just staring into each other's eyes. Arthur could have sworn Alfred was growing a small blush as they stood like that. Arthur would have forgotten the rest of the world if it weren't for Veronica coming behind Alfred and tapping him on the shoulder.

"Ain't ya gonna tell me happy birthday?" Veronica asked as the two separated, Alfred obviously trying to not act as flustered as he was feeling.

"Oh," Alfred snapped himself out of the stupor he was in staring at Arthur. "H-Happy Birthday, Veronica."

"So…" Veronica said, slightly impatiently. "You gonna dance with me?"

"Oh, yeah, sure thing," Alfred took hold of her hand and spun her a couple of times in the direction of the edge of the dance floor before they started doing the two step. When she wasn't looking, Alfred stole a glance back at Arthur.

"So, you wanna dance with me now, Arthur?" Sheri came back up to him.

"Um, yes, sure," Arthur said as they got into the first position and they started doing the two step. Arthur still felt slightly uncomfortable dancing, but he did dare to do a couple of spins here and there.

Arthur was asked to dance by several girls throughout the night, but he noticed that Alfred was only dancing with Veronica, much to many girls' dismay. With every dance, he got more comfortable, but none of them felt as fun and exciting as when he was dancing with Alfred. And Veronica seemed to be having a wild time with Alfred. She was being spun every which way, going into dips, and sometimes jumping in the air with the aid of Alfred. Alfred turned out to be quite the dancer and seemed to be having a lot of fun. But Arthur kept on noticing that he kept on stealing glances over to look at Arthur.

Arthur eventually got tired of dancing and made his way to the crowd circling the dance floor. He was surprised to find a couple of tables on the edges of the room. On some of them were couples, flirting and spending alone time together. And on some were large groups of people looking to be having a grand time. There was one table, though that was almost empty.

There was one person sitting there that Arthur would have overlooked if he didn't look just like Alfred. The only real difference he saw was that he had a curl sticking out of his forehead straight forward and his eyes had a more purple tint to them. He wore a simple plaid shirt with an unbuttoned vest and jeans. Rather than boots, he wore just plain white shoes that somehow managed to stay pretty bright. There was one more difference between the two, this one wore glasses. This one also seemed to be not as carefree as Alfred, as he was sitting alone in the back and not being the center of attention.

Arthur quickly walked over to him, sitting down in a chair next to him.

"Um, hello," Arthur decided to speak first.

"Hello," the boy spoke quietly and kindly, very different from Alfred. "A-are you that Arthur I've been hearing about?"

"Yes," Arthur rubbed the back of his head. "Is it my accent that gives it away?"

"Yeah. All of the girls around town won't stop talking about you."

"Am I really that popular?" Arthur asked.

"It doesn't take much to impress these girls," the boy said. "They've lived in this town their whole lives, all they know as cute is Alfred and Chuck. A couple think I'm cute, but most don't see me past my brother. Oh, I'm Mathew, by the way. A-Alfred's brother."

"Yes, he's talked about you some," Arthur smiled.

"He…he's talked to you?" Mathew asked, tilting his head slightly. "A-About me?"

"Yes," Arthur nodded. "He talks about you kindly."

"Huh…" Mathew looked over Arthur slowly, grinning slightly to himself.

"He…he's also invited me to stay at your house," Arthur put in and Mathew's attention alerted.

"He has?" Mathew looked like he was in utter surprise.

"I-If that's a problem with you, I can find somewhere else to stay," Arthur offered.

"No, no," Mathew sighed and them smiled. "Y-you can stay with us as long as you like, Arthur."

"Thank you," Arthur smiled. "So, um, would you mind telling me some about this town? I don't really know much…"

"Well, what do you want to know?" Mathew asked.

"Well…I've been hearing a lot about a Chuck…" Arthur muttered.

"Um, well, he's kind of like the leader of this town," Mathew said, looking up at the ceiling like he was thinking. "He's not the mayor, but he leads what everyone here does. He has a posse that follows his around all the time. Alfred was inducted a while ago, after what happened to Mom and Dad… He was happy to join with them because it gave him a better chance at taking care of us."

"I-I don't mean to pry, but what has happened to your parents?" Arthur asked.

"Dad was herding cattle, just like every normal day," Mathew muttered. "Mom had…had planned for a special day for when he would come back. She had a yellow dress all ready and had a lunch ready for them to have a picnic. They had a special spot by a stream where they met… But, something spooked the cattle Dad was herding. They…they stampeded when he had just gotten off of his horse. Chuck was the one that found him. He had bruises all over and he wouldn't move. Mom…she went to the stream anyway, she said that she wanted time alone…and…"

"Y-you don't have to say anymore," Arthur stopped him. There was a pause between them, which Arthur decided to break. "What made you trust me enough to tell me that?"

"If Alfred trusts you enough to let you in our house, then I can trust you with anything," Mathew smiled.

"Th-thank you," Arthur smiled.

"Hey!" Alfred's voice shouted behind the two and they looked back to find Alfred coming back with a glass of something in his hand. "That's where you went, Artie!"

"My name is Arthur," Arthur called over to him as Alfred sauntered over to them.

"So, you've met Mattie, eh?" Alfred asked as he came up to them and sat down on Arthur's other side.

"What do you have, there, Alfred?" Mathew asked him.

"Oh, yeah!" Alfred said excitedly like he just remembered he had it. "It's something I wanted Arthur to try!"

"Um, what is it?" Arthur asked, looking into the glass, the liquid looked like the color of amber.

"Just try it first and then I'll tell ya!" Alfred said.

"Oh, God, Alfred, don't tell me…" Mathew sighed.

"Shh!" Alfred said to Mathew and then turned to Arthur. "Just try it. I promise I'll tell you what it is after that."

"Fine," Arthur sighed, scooping up the glass and taking a small sip. As the liquid went down his throat, he couldn't help but feel a slight burn to it. "Now tell me what it is," Arthur demanded after his sip.

"Oh, come on, that wasn't a real test of it! You have to take a big gulp of it!" Alfred whined.

"I'm not going to do that with a drink I don't know, Alfred," Arthur said.

"Alfred, don't make him drink that," Mathew argued. "You don't know how he-"

"Shush," Alfred ordered. "Now take a big gulp of it and I'll tell you what it is."

"Fine," Arthur picked up the glass again. "You want me to take a gulp? I'll take a gulp." Without even thinking, Arthur brought the drink up to his lips and allowed a lot of it to come into his mouth and swallowed several mouthfuls. On the first mouthful, he started to feel a small buzz in his head and the sting in his throat got slightly worse. On the second, though, that pain went away and the buzz grew stronger. It grew stronger with each mouthful. By the time he had swallowed five times, his head felt cloudy and he felt like he was about to fall over at any second.

He slammed the glass down on the table. "Now what the 'ell is this?" Arthur slurred, but he paid it no mind. He started feeling all of his emotions bubble up at the same time and he was fighting to stay composed, but he found his fight waning with every second.

Alfred laughed obnoxiously. "100% American beer, dude!"

"Alfred, why?" Mathew muttered as Arthur blacked out.

* * *

**This chapter was extremely hard to write. One reason, because Arthur doesn't know the names of dances in the west, or dance moves. So I could only describe them. Many a youtube video was watched so I could try to write dancing. And I have never drank beer before, so I don't know how it's supposed to feel when you drink it, so don't kill me if I got that bit wrong. I tried my hardest!**

**Please review, it makes me feel good about myself and then I will write more!**

**And I don't own Hetalia, if I did, me might actually see cowboy!America in the anime.**


	4. Chapter 4

Arthur woke up to a massive amount of pain in his head. He could barely open his eyes, and when he did, the light nearly blinded him.

"Cock," Arthur groaned, rolling over slowly so that his face went into the softness below him. He laid there for a while, wishing he was dead, when he heard a faint knock from somewhere.

Arthur slowly lifted his head up and dared himself to open his eyes. It looked like he was in a room. There was a closed window right next to him. The white curtains did nothing to block the bright sunshine from coming in. The other things in the room was a desk and chair, the chair had what looked like a rope with a lasso tied onto it hanging on it. There was also a dresser, which was right next to a door. Arthur supposed that was where the knock came from.

"Y-yeah…?" Arthur groaned.

The door cracked open and a boy appeared. Arthur's head hurt so bad, he couldn't quite tell whether it was Mathew or Alfred. Arthur only hoped it was Mathew, Alfred would not be helping his headache.

"So, you're finally awake?" a soft voice muttered and Arthur silently thanked God it was Mathew.

"Um, wh-what time is it?" Arthur asked, he couldn't help but notice that his voice was deathly quiet.

"About 8," Mathew leaned against the door frame. "It doesn't sound late, but it is when everyone wakes up at 6."

"Sorry if I caused any trouble," Arthur groaned.

"Do you remember any of last night?" Mathew asked curiously.

Arthur shook his head. "Last thing I remember was Alfred forcing me to drink that…what was it again?"

"Beer," Mathew said bluntly.

"Shit, I drank beer?" Arthur winced as his voice raised in volume.

"Blame Al," Mathew smiled slightly. "You know, after you finally passed out, he carried you back here. And he insisted you slept in here while he took the couch."

"Th-this is his room?" Arthur stuttered, moving the sheets on the bed to cover his now growing blush.

Mathew giggled. "He's already up. He's been waiting for you to wake up so that he can get ready."

"I-I can get out now, if he needs-" Arthur stopped talking just as soon as he tried to sit up. He clutched his head and he could have sworn that the world started spinning. "Ugh…"

"You shouldn't sit up that quickly," Mathew came over to him quickly, going onto one knee to look over Arthur.

"Good lord, my head," Arthur groaned.

"Try to move slowly," Mathew instructed. "And avoid loud noises."

"I don't think I can avoid Alfred," Arthur grinned as best he could.

"Yeah," Mathew sighed dreamily. "He seemed quite taken with you…A-as a friend, of course."

"Of course," Arthur sighed and stood up slowly.

"Um, if you want," Mathew said. "While Alfred's getting ready, I could get you some clothes that might be a little more suitable to you."

"Is there something wrong with what I'm wearing now?" Arthur asked.

"No," Mathew shook his head, smiling. "It's just, you look like a gentleman, and you should be dressed a little cleaner to dress the part. And I think you might want to dress up for a special someone."

"Who?" Arthur asked, looking at Mathew skeptically.

"Oh, there was someone last night," Mathew giggled. "They couldn't take their eyes off of you the whole night. You might do them a favor to dress up."

"Wh-who are you-" Arthur started speaking when they got into the narrow hallway, but he was cut off.

"Hey, sweet! Artie's awake!" Alfred's loud voice boomed and Arthur winced. Alfred came up to him, his bright blue eyes filled to the brim with happiness. "You were freaking hilarious last night!"

Arthur sputtered, but Mathew spoke first. "That's rude, Alfred," he scolded and Alfred stuck out his tongue at him.

"Whatever," Alfred said. "I need to get ready quick, Chuck's back and he said I can practice my lassoing today!" Alfred seemed to be bouncing with excitement as he went into his room quickly, shutting the door.

"Here, I'll be back in a second," Mathew said softly and retreated into the parent's room. Arthur stood awkwardly in the hallway as he heard shuffling. Mathew appeared soon, though, and handed Arthur a pile of perfectly folded clothes. "You can keep the jeans on and you can keep your boots, they're downstairs. A-and you can change in my room, if you want."

"Um, yes, thank you," Arthur nodded to him.

"Do you want me to get you some coffee or anything while you're changing?" Mathew asked him.

"Might you have any tea by any chance?" Arthur asked and Mathew smiled.

"Our mom used to drink tea," he said kindly as he retreated downstairs.

Arthur went into the only door he hadn't seen the inside of. It looked almost exactly similar to Alfred's except the desk and the dresser had switched places. It looked like everything in both rooms were an exact match.

Arthur set the folded clothes on the desk and pulled off the shirt Alfred had given him. He folded it nicely and set it down next to the other clothes. He then picked up a light blue, crisp dress shirt. He couldn't help but wonder if these belonged to their father. And, if they did, should he really be wearing them? But, Mathew gave them to him, after all… That should mean it's alright.

Arthur quickly slipped on the dress shirt, buttoning it up all the way, and then putting on the brown vest over it. He didn't bother to button that as he picked up the last piece of clothing. This thing was peculiar. He wasn't quite sure what it was. It looked like it could have been a tie, but the thickness of the strings were much too small and there was an odd circular bit on it.

Arthur held it in his hand as he left the room, closing the door behind him, and retreated down the stairs. He was surprised to see Mathew still alone down there.

"Where is Alfred? I thought he said he needed to hurry," Arthur asked. Mathew turned around and smiled kindly at Arthur.

"He always spends 10 minutes trying to force that cowlick to go down," Mathew said. "All of the girls get curious about it and try to touch it and that…doesn't really turn out well."

"Right," Arthur sighed. "Hey, mind telling me what this is?" He held out the weird object to Mathew, who snickered slightly.

"It's called a bolo tie," Mathew smiled and held out his hand. "Here, let me help you out with it." Arthur handed it to him and Mathew slipped it over his Arthur's and underneath his collar. And then he started tightening it, pulling the circular object so that the tie fit on Arthur's neck snugly. And then Mathew unbuttoned the top button on Arthur's shirt. "Much better," Mathew said, nodding at his work.

Mathew soon turned around and started messing with things that Arthur couldn't see from his position. After some clinking around, Mathew finally turned around with a teacup in his hand.

"I-um, don't know how you usually drink it…" Mathew muttered.

"Plain is fine," Arthur said as he took the cup from Mathew.

"Want to step outside? Take in some fresh air?" Mathew asked as Arthur took a sip of the tea. To be honest, it was amazing. He didn't expect that from American tea, but he had tasted nothing like it before. It was soothing and sweet and it made him close his eyes and he nearly hummed, it made him so happy. Just one sip, and his headache nearly went away.

"Oh, um," Arthur muttered, coming back to Earth. "Yeah, sure…"

Mathew laughed slightly as they walked out onto the porch, leaving the door open. Mathew leaned forward, onto the porch railing while Arthur leaned against the house. He took another sip of that tea and nearly melted in the hot sun.

"You know, you're pretty good at making tea," Arthur commented.

"Oh, it has nothing to do with me," Mathew said. "Our mom found this special patch, where she found these special leaves. They aren't originally tea leaves, but she found out that they tasted really good as tea. I still don't know where that patch is, though…"

"Interesting…" Arthur muttered as he took another sip. His bliss was interrupted, though, by Alfred running out the door.

"Hey, not time to talk," he said quickly as he jumped over the porch railing next to Mathew. "Gotta go." He looked back for a fraction of a second and caught Arthur's gaze for a moment in mid-jump. He was caught off balance and tumbled to the ground, rolling around a couple times before coming to a stop. He was still looking at Arthur and he could have sworn a blush was spreading wide over Alfred's face.

"You okay, Al?" Mathew asked and Arthur could see his smile from his position behind him.

"Fine," Alfred shook his head, scrambling to his feet. Today, he was wearing a blue shirt with his jeans and he had his black hat back on. His lasso was attached to his jeans. "Be back later, kay? I-I wanna show you guys something."

"Sure thing," Mathew nodded as Alfred stumbled away.

"What was that?" Arthur asked. "Does that happen often?"

"No, he probably just got distracted by something pretty," Mathew hummed.

Arthur shrugged and took another sip of his tea. "So, what do you usually do while Alfred's out?" he asked.

Mathew sighed, turning around to face Arthur. "I don't know, it's different every day. Alfred's so protective, he doesn't let me take any job except farm. So I usually do that. But, sometimes, I help out at either the grocery store or maybe even the doctor's. But we can do whatever you want to do today."

"Well, what time does Alfred usually get back?" Arthur asked.

"Always at least before supper," Mathew said. "If you wanted to do that, we could. Make supper, I mean."

"Um…" Arthur muttered. He always thought that he was a good cook, but most people that ate his food nearly died. Not the kind of impression you want to make on the people you're living with. "I-I don't think that's the best idea…"

"Don't freak out," Mathew smiled. "Even if you're a bad cook, I'm sure Alfred would eat anything you made."

"How about I just fetch the items you'll need?" Arthur offered.

"Fine, I'll make a list for you," Mathew sighed, going inside.

Arthur took another sip of tea and watched as the people of the town walked by, all going about their own business. It was actually kind of amazing… Back in England, he would rarely leave his home and it was always raining. Most of the people around were irritating and never really talked to anyone. But, here, it seemed like there was not a cloud in the sky and it was bright and happy. And it seemed that if anyone passed by anyone, they had a mini conversation about something. Anything.

Maybe this town wasn't going to be so bad after all…

Arthur went for another sip of his tea, and became disappointed to find out that there was no more left. Mathew came out of the house with a piece of paper in his hand.

"Here, I think you can find everything you need at the store," Mathew handed him the list and a couple of dollar bills. Arthur hadn't seen a dollar before, this certainly was interesting... "I'm going to make chili, if that's alright."

"Um, fine," Arthur muttered. He had no idea what 'chili' was, but the ingredient's list was interesting… "I'll go get my shoes on and then head out."

Arthur retreated inside quickly and set his empty cup on the table. It didn't take him long to find the boots Alfred gave him, they were right next to the door. He slipped them on with little effort and, still with the list in his hand, went off to the store.

"One thing before you leave," Mathew called out to him before he got too far. Arthur turned around to look at him. "You don't remember any of last night, but most of us do… So just be a little careful with what you do and say. At least for today."

_Good lord, what the hell did I do?_ Arthur thought to himself as he nodded to Mathew. He turned around and set off for the grocery store.

One problem: he didn't know where it was. And he was terrified to talk to anyone, in case something bad happened when he was drunk. Luckily, someone came up and talked to Arthur first.

"Hi, Arthur," it was Sheri and she was beaming happily to him.

"Oh, um, hello," Arthur replied politely.

"Last night was fun," Sheri said, trying to start conversation.

"Well, what I can remember was fun," Arthur sighed.

"I, um, I left before you became drunk…" Sheri said. "But I heard that things got pretty bad."

"Blame Alfred," Arthur sighed. "He forced me to drink it."

Sheri giggled. "So, whatcha lookin' for? You look kinda lost."

"Um, grocery store?" Arthur asked her.

"Oh, it's just past Mary Lou's house," Sheri said, pointing behind Arthur. "I can take ya there, if you want."

"Um, thank you," Arthur nodded. "That would be much appreciated."

"No problem," Sheri smiled and started walking. Arthur followed. "So, if you don't mind my asking, why are ya here, anyway? In this nameless town?"

"Just trying to get away, I guess," Arthur sighed.

"But doncha miss your family?" Sheri asked.

"Not all that much," Arthur said.

"Why not?" Sheri asked, sounding disappointed.

"They're not the kind of people that are worth my missing them," Arthur looked up at the sky.

"Hello, Sheri!" an unfamiliar womanly voice called out to them and Sheri stopped, waving high above her head. Arthur stopped soon after her and turned his head in the direction of the voice. There was a woman, looking to be in her 30s or 40s standing on a porch of a rather large house. She had frazzled, blonde hair and soft blue eyes. She was wearing a white dress with light pink flowers on it. She looked like she must have been beautiful when she was younger.

"Hey, Mary Lou!" Sheri said happily.

"That the new kid I've been hearin' 'bout?" Mary Lou called over.

"Yeah, this is Arthur," Sheri smiled. Arthur sighed, at least he didn't have to introduce himself again.

"Well, hey there Arthur!" Mary Lou called out politely.

"Hello," Arthur called out, nodding politely.

"We're just goin' to the store real quick! We'll stop to chat after, kay?" Sheri said excitedly and Mary Lou nodded. They started walking again, led by Sheri.

"So, watcha gettin' ingredients for?" Sheri asked him.

"Um, something called chili…" Arthur said, looking down at his list.

"Ooh, Mattie's makin' chili?" Sheri asked happily. "I love his chili! Too bad he's probably not sharin' tonight…"

"So, mind helping me try to find these things?" Arthur asked her. "I-I've never really gone shopping before…"

"Sure thing, I'll help ya!" Sheri said excitedly as they came up to a building.

* * *

**I just want to say this really quick. Last chapter, Arthur did not pass out, he blacked out...meaning he can't remember what happened past that point. Just pointing that out there...**

**To be honest, the hardest part of this whole story is the fact that it's in Arthur's perpective and he doesn't know what things in America look like. I had no idea how to explain a bolo tie!**

**Also, Chuck's finally coming back next chapter! Anyone excited?**

**Please review, I haven't been getting much writing done lately and a nice review might cheer me up enough to write some more of this amazing story for ya'll!**

**And I do not and never will own Hetalia**


	5. Chapter 5

Shopping was a whole new experience for Arthur. He never did the shopping back at home, he never really needed to. The servants always did it for him. He wasn't proud of having servants, to be honest. But it made things a hell of a lot easier.

The store was honestly kind of dark and dusty. That's what it got for covering all of its windows with merchandise. There were a couple of people in the small room, one of them looked like a clerk. There were several bookcase looking things with all kinds of goods lining them to the brim.

Arthur didn't even get a chance to take it all in before Sheri pulled him up to a bookcase that looked like half of it was filled with spices.

"So," Sheri said excitedly taking hold of Arthur's list. "We should get the beans and tomatoes no problem… He must be out of chili powder if it's on here…"

Arthur pretty much left her to her own devices, mumbling to herself, and took his chance to look around the store some more. It was kind of weird, there were so many things lining the shelves. There was anything from cloth to guns to alcohol. There was even rope and just spare wood on the floor.

Arthur marveled at how handy a store like this was. This town was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, he wondered where they got everything that they did. But, this made sense. There must be a lot of people who just pass by this town. They had to drop something off on their way by…

Arthur looked down at the floor for a second, and he saw something small and fast zoom across the floor in a flash of white. It ran over his shoes and he could disgracefully admit that he let out a small shriek and retreated backwards, knocking into the back of Sheri.

"Is something wrong?" she asked calmly after Arthur stood up away from her, straightening out his clothes.

"I-I think I saw a mouse on the floor," Arthur commented.

"Oh, them?" Sheri giggled. "They're everywhere, I think their kind of cute."

"Cute," Arthur sighed. These people were crazy. "Right. Anything else that shows up around here I should know about?"

"Snakes," Sheri hummed, looking up the bookcase and going on her tiptoes to get to a little jar.

"Snakes?" Arthur asked. He had heard about them and read about them in books, but he had never seen one in real life. He knew what they looked like…weren't they the things that made the rattling noise? "Do they get inside?"

"All the time," Sheri said happily.

"A-And that's safe?" Arthur asked. Last time he checked, snakes were poisonous.

"As long as they don't bite you, you're fine," Sheri shrugged.

"Um…" Arthur didn't know what to say.

"Don't worry," Sheri laughed. "If you hadn't noticed, most of the houses 'round here are elevated, or whatever that's called. Most of the snakes can't go up stairs, so you'll be fine, kay?"

"Sure…fine…" Arthur said. Snakes. And mice. Lovely…

"Here, hold this," Sheri said, handing Arthur the jar she had just gotten, along with two tomatoes. When did she get those?

She continued to search through the bookcases and pulled out a few more things as Arthur watched her. She got things together rather quickly, and then pulled Arthur over to the counter where the clerk was sitting, looking like he was sleeping. Sheri, looking like she knew what she was doing, slammed her hand on the table rather loudly. The clerk sat up quickly. He was so just asleep.

This man was short and fat, Arthur noticed. He had on a straw cowboy hat that covered his eyes and he wore a black and white plaid shirt.

"So, how much for this?" Sheri asked sweetly, it was a big contrast from her slamming her hand on the counter.

The man looked at what they had for a second before sleepily responding, "3 dollars."

Arthur fumbled around to get his money and quickly handed it to the clerk, who nodded to them and then leaned back in his chair and started to take another nap. Then Sheri just simply handed Arthur what she had in her hands and walked out. Arthur followed.

"See? It's not that hard to go grocery shopping!" Sheri laughed.

"Yes, I sure learned a lot from that experience," Arthur sighed.

"Here, let's go talk to Mary Lou, now!" Sheri said excitedly and grabbed onto Arthur's wrist. She started running and Arthur nearly dropped a tomato trying to keep up with her.

"Could you please slow down?" Arthur asked as politely as he could while he almost tripped over something he didn't even see.

Sheri stopped. "But we're already here!" she smiled. Was everyone here always this happy? Arthur couldn't help but wonder… "Hey, Mary Lou!" she waved at the house. Mary Lou was on the porch, but it looked like she was putting clothes up on a wire. Why was she doing that?

"Hello, you two," she nodded at them.

"If you don't mind my asking, what are you doing?" Arthur asked her.

"Ain't you never seen somebody doin' laundry before?" she asked, smiling.

"Um, no," Arthur rubbed the back of his neck. "Actually, I haven't."

"That's what ya get for growin' up in England," Mary Lou laughed and Sheri laughed with her.

"Well, England's not that bad," Arthur smiled.

"You know, he's already learned so many things comin' here," Sheri said happily. "Alfie taught 'im to dance and ah taught 'im how to shop!"

"Alfie taughtcha to dance?" Mary Lou asked him.

"Um, I guess that's what you could call it," Arthur laughed slightly. "I considered it more like him just moving and expecting me to follow him."

"You shouldda seen it Mary Lou!" Sheri said excitedly. "Alfie did this neat trick with 'im, where he picked 'im up and spun 'im up in the air!"

"Did he now?" Mary Lou asked, leaning forward on the railing of her porch now, staring slightly in the sky dreamily. "'Bout time…"

"About time for what?" Arthur asked.

"Nothing," Mary Lou smiled, standing up and going back to her laundry. "So, what are you like Arthur?"

Arthur blinked. "Come again?"

"Tell me about yourself," Mary Lou smirked.

"Um…" Arthur didn't quite know how to respond to that.

"Well, he's-" Sheri started, but Mary Lou stopped her.

"I want him to respond," Mary Lou said simply. "I'll start simple. What's your name?"

"Um, A-Arthur Kirkland," Arthur said and he could have sworn he heard sighing behind him. He looked over his shoulder for a brief second and found several girls behind him. He noticed Sheri inched closer to him with every second, as if protectively.

"What do you like to do for fun, Arthur?" Mary Lou asked, glaring slightly at the girls.

"I, um, I mainly like to read…" Arthur mumbled. His audience was starting to make him uncomfortable.

"Not much readin' material 'round here," Mary Lou grinned. "Now tell me how ya like it here. And don' lie just 'cause they're around," she pointed to the people behind Arthur.

"I-I like it," Arthur couldn't help but smile thinking about it. "There's nice people, a lot nicer than back at home. People here do far more for you than they do in England."

"You know, ah can be nice to ya too, Arthur!" one girl said, leaning on Arthur's shoulder. She seemed to be talking quickly, like she desperately wanted a chance to talk to Arthur.

"Aw," another one latched onto his other arm, shoving Sheri out of the way. "You're just adorable when ya talk like that, Artie."

"Ah think he's cute all the time," another girl said behind him.

"Um, my name is Arthur," Arthur sighed. "Not-"

"Ah heard you were quite the party animal last night," Arthur stopped caring which woman spoke when by this point. They were all starting to sound the same to him.

"I-I guess," Arthur stuttered out.

"You can't remember much, can you?"

"Well, ah can. Ah can remember a whole lot."

"That's-that's great," Arthur muttered, trying to move away from the girls, but he didn't get very far before one came up in front of him, her face very close to his.

"You know, you flirted with me," the girl in front winked at him.

"I-I did?" Arthur asked, he felt his eyes going wide.

"Yeah," the girl leaned forward, causing Arthur to lean backwards. "Ya did…" she kept leaning forward, it was almost like…

_Shit_ Arthur thought. _She wants to kiss me._

Arthur leaned backwards even more, trying to get away from the girl he didn't even know the name of.

He leaned back more and realized that he had just lost his balance. He opened his mouth to say something, but it was already too late. Before he knew it, he was on his back with a lot of pain coming into his back and head. He propped himself up on his elbows to look down at his clothes. It appeared that all of the groceries he had just obtained were now all over him. There was chili powder on his jeans, onions scattered on his shirt, and luckily the tomatoes landed on the ground on either side of him.

"Oh, my God, Arthur!"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm so sorry!"

"Are your clothes ruined?"

Several hands went out in front of Arthur to help him up, but before he could take one, Mary Lou started shouting at them.

"Hey!" she started. "Look what ya'll did! Back away! Don't go near him!"

The girls all seemed to part at the same time, leaving a lot of empty space between them and Arthur. Mary Lou came up in front of him, holding out her own hand. Arthur took it and stood up.

"Um, thank you," Arthur said, brushing off everything that got on his clothes.

"Here, I'll give you money for new food," Mary Lou commented and retreated into her house to go get the money.

"I'm so sorry, Arthur!"

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Do you think you'll be alright?"

"I will be fine," Arthur assured them. "I'm not hurt, everything's fine."

"Here," Mary Lou said, emerging out of her house. She handed Arthur several bills. "You can keep the rest for your troubles." She then resumed to glare at all of the girls and they all dispersed.

"I guess I'll be off to get those again," Arthur sighed. "I-It was a pleasure meeting you, Mary Lou." He nodded to her politely and she smiled in return.

It didn't take long for Arthur to get into the store again and start filing through the bookcase of food to try and find what he wanted. He just got a hold of another jar when he heard the door slam open loudly.

Arthur was about to turn around to find out who it was when he heard a familiar voice boom behind him.

"Well, lookie therex! Our little Artie's already fittin' in!" It was Chuck. Arthur felt something heavy push down on his head. He looked up slightly and found someone's arms resting on top of his head. How tall was this Chuck? "Goin' shoppin', pretty boy?"

"Well, yes, I am," Arthur said, quite more confident that he felt.

"So, Artie," Chuck removed his arms from Arthur's head and moved one so that it rested on Arthur's shoulder. "It appears little Alfie's taken a bit of a likin' to ya."

"So I've heard," Arthur said, getting something down from the bookshelf.

"Well, whatever yer doin', cut it out now, 'kay?" Chuck looked right into Arthur's eyes. He looked almost…angry. "Don' want 'im goin' queer on us now, do we?"

"Um, excuse me?" Arthur looked at him questioningly.

"You never heard of that back at home?" Chuck laughed heartily. "Means faggot, kid."

"Lovely," Arthur sighed, getting the last thing that was left on the list for the second time. He was beginning to miss yesterday, when Chuck wasn't around.

"Do ya ever say more than four words at a time, Artie?" Chuck asked.

"Sometimes," Arthur sighed, going over quickly to the counter and putting 3 dollars on it before turning to leave. Chuck stopped him, though. He turned him around so that Chuck could look him over.

"Mah girls've been talkin' 'bout you quite a lot, kid," Chuck said, rather irritatedly.

"'Your girls?'" Arthur scoffed.

"Yes, mah girls," Chuck snapped slightly. "Yer gonna back off 'em now, or you won't know what hit ya."

"I'm sorry I have no control over what they do," Arthur nearly glared at him.

"Your voice makes ya sound like a pussy, ya know that?" Chuck crossed his arms in front of himself.

"Good for you," Arthur shook his head and left the store quickly.

He started walking quickly back to the house, mostly because he was mad, but partially because if Chuck was back, that meant that Alfred was back.

Arthur walked up the stairs of the porch and heard talking coming from the inside of the house. It was Alfred and Mathew. So he _was_ back…

"I'm back," Arthur called out calmly as he opened the door to the house with his back so he wouldn't drop anything in his hands again.

"What took you so long?" Mathew asked from his place at the table, across from Alfred.

"Well, I fell over the first time I got them, and so I had to get more," Arthur spoke nervously and placed the food on the counters of the kitchen.

"You sure seem to act a lot like a clutz for someone who isn't one," Alfred laughed.

"And what are you doing back so soon?" Arthur asked him, crossing his arms.

"Well, we were going to do some herdin' today," Alfred chuckled. "And then there was a stampede… Not my fault! Anyway… we couldn't really do much after that and decided to come back."

"Alfred, how did you cause a stampede?" Mathew asked him.

"I didn't do anything!" Alfred yelled defensively.

"He was probably just talking too loudly," Arthur grinned.

"This is fine, though!" Alfred stood up quickly. "Because I still have to show ya something!"

"What is it you want to show me?" Arthur asked.

"Well, it's a surprise for you and Mattie! I found it a couple days ago and I can't go alone!"

"How about I stick back here and work on making dinner?" Mathew asked hopefully. "If it is what I think it is, I don't want to be anywhere near you when you get there."

"Ugh, fine," Alfred groaned. "Guess that means it's just me and Artie!"

"Please don't tell me we're going somewhere stupid," Arthur sighed.

"Not at all!" Alfred said happily, grabbing onto Arthur's wrist and pulling him towards the door. "It's so cool!"

"Fine," Arthur sighed.

Alfred stopped walking just as soon as they got out of the door. He paused for a second, looking at Arthur. He then took the hat off of his head and placed it on top of Arthur's.

"Much better," Alfred nodded and continued dragging Arthur.

* * *

**Ugh, I'm so sorry I'm late updating this! All of my teachers decided that now would be a wonderful time to start piling homework on us, so I haven't had much time to write. And I'm also sorry for the sucky parts of this chapter. Major writer's block going on here, probably just because it was so boring... Next chapter, though, I have all planned out and it will be amazing! Just watch!**

**And please review! It keeps me writing and I may just update faster next time!**

**And I promise that I own nothing.**


	6. Chapter 6

"Why do you always put your hat on my head?" Arthur asked as he was being dragged through town.

"I just think it looks good on ya!" Alfred said happily.

"Well, I think it looks weird," Arthur sighed as they stopped in front of what looked like a stable.

"I like it," Alfred smiled before going inside. "Stay," he called out to Arthur.

"So how far away is this thing you want to show me?" Arthur asked.

"A few miles," Alfred hummed. "Figured you wouldn't want to walk the whole way, so we're taking Freedom!"

Alfred came out of the stable with his horse, a huge smile on his face.

"I…um…don't know how to ride a horse," Arthur mumbled, rubbing his neck.

"That's okay!" Alfred said happily. "'Cause you're riding with me!"

"I'm what?" Arthur asked and Alfred grabbed onto his waist and lifted him up so that, when he let go, Arthur landed on the back of the horse.

"Dude, you weigh, like, nothing!" Alfred laughed. "I nearly threw you in the air that time!"

"What the hell was that?" Arthur demanded, hoping that the hat would hide his blush.

"Well, since you don't know how to ride a horse, I figured you wouldn't know how to get on one. This way was much easier than trying to coach you onto getting on her! Besides, we can't take another horse."

"Why not?" Arthur asked.

"'Cause, if you steal someone's horse, they can kill you."

"Really?" Arthur marveled.

"Yup! Don't want you dyin' on me, now, do I?"

"Aren't you supposed to have a saddle on these things?" Arthur asked, wondering why the back of the horse was bare.

"Don't have one," Alfred said as he jumped and hoisted himself onto Freedom right in front of Alfred. "Can't afford it."

"I-Is that safe?" Arthur asked. All the people he had seen riding horses didn't ride bareback. They had saddles.

"If you know what you're doing," Alfred turned around and smiled back at Arthur. "Which I do. I'm an amazing rider, if I do say so myself!"

"If I fall off and hurt something, I'm blaming you," Arthur sighed.

"Just hold on tight then," Alfred said, turning his head back around.

"Wait, what?" Arthur asked just in time for Alfred to kick the horse and it to start running. Arthur nearly fell off, if he didn't immediately latch onto Alfred, holding onto his waist.

"B-bloody hell!" Arthur yelled out, holding onto Alfred tightly.

Alfred just busted out laughing. "I told you to hold on tight!"

"Dear Lord, this is terrifying!" Arthur yelled.

"Well, I should warn you, I like to run fast!" Alfred said.

"Please don't," Arthur muttered as Alfred kicked Freedom to go faster. Arthur held on tighter, terrified of letting go and falling off. He felt like he was almost falling off as it was. And he could feel himself blushing. He didn't expect feeling all of those muscles when he held onto Alfred. It was almost scary how toned his body felt even over all those clothes.

"You doing okay?" Alfred called out behind him.

"Fine…" Arthur muttered.

"You're holding on pretty tight," Alfred sounded like he was grinning. "You sure you don't fit well into the girl part?"

"Shut up," Arthur groaned.

"But you fit perfectly into the roll right now!" Alfred laughed.

"Then you should be wearing the cowboy hat," Arthur argued.

"But you look great in it!" Alfred said.

"Well, that's your opinion," Arthur said simply.

"You know you love it," Alfred looked back for a second to smirk at Arthur.

"Can't say I do," Arthur sighed. "It feels weird on my head."

"Gotta say my head feels weird, too," Alfred admitted.

"Then put the hat back on your head," Arthur said.

"Nah, I like it on you better," Alfred said.

"I don't…" Arthur muttered.

"Are we really arguing over a hat?" Alfred laughed.

"Yes, yes we are," Arthur stated.

"Well, you're keeping the hat, whether you like it or not," Alfred said.

"Which I don't," Arthur pointed out.

"Hey, look over there," Alfred pointed forward, towards a growing speck in the distance.

"What is it?" Arthur asked.

"What I wanted to show ya!" Alfred said excitedly.

"Again, what is it?" Arthur asked.

"It's a ghost town," Alfred said, his cheerful attitude noticeably dropping the closer they got to the town. Next to it was an extremely small forest. Arthur didn't know how he never noticed it before, but there was a river coming from it, along the side of the dirt road they were on. Looking behind them, he noticed that the river went by next to the town, and continued on until he couldn't see it anymore. He guessed he was just so busy figuring out the town and looking at the dust that he didn't notice it. But it was beautiful.

"Is something wrong with it?" Arthur asked curiously, bringing his attention back to the town in front of them.

"N-n-no!" Alfred started shaking now that they were only a few seconds from the entrance. "N-not at all!"

"Are you…scared?" Arthur asked as Freedom started slowing down.

"I-I'm not scared!" Alfred argued as Freedom stopped. They were right in the middle of the town. All of the wooden buildings were tattered and worn down. Almost all of the glass was broken and the sand blowing through made the place slightly creepy.

"I would have to say you are scared," Arthur smirked, but he almost lost it when he had to let go of Alfred.

"I-I'm not scared, o-okay?" Alfred stuttered as he got down from Freedom.

"Why did you bring me here if you're so scared?" Arthur asked him.

"I am not scared!" Alfred yelled at him. "A-and you are here to witness that!"

"Is that why you brought me here?" Arthur couldn't help but laugh.

"N-no! I-It's not!"

"Could you help me down without shaking then?" Arthur asked.

"Um, just s-sling y-your leg o-over to m-me," Alfred stuttered and Arthur laughed as he did what he was told. "A-And then j-jump and…and I'll catch you."

"Promise me you're not too scared to catch me?" Arthur couldn't help but ask.

"Yes, I will catch you!" Alfred yelled at him, losing his stutter in his anger. He held out his arms to catch Arthur.

"God, this is embarrassing," Arthur muttered.

"Good thing I'm the only one around to see," Alfred grinned.

Arthur rolled his eyes and dropped down from the horse. Alfred grabbed onto his waist, helping him to the ground. They stayed there like that for a while, looking into each other's eyes, and Arthur practically lost himself.

"See?" Alfred smiled. "I got ya."

Arthur could have stayed like that forever. Looking up at Alfred, the contrast of the bright blue sky on his dark, sun burnt skin. Seeing that perfectly white smile spread across his face. Watching as Alfred's face started turning a deeper red, even through his sunburn. Leaning forward slightly, just enough to feel Alfred's shaky breath on his face. Nearly melting as a cool breeze spread in between them, shuffling Alfred's hair off to the side.

But that cool breeze was the end of it. Alfred suddenly let go of Arthur and darted behind him, shakily holding onto his shoulders.

"G-ghost!" Alfred shuddered.

Arthur sighed. Not every guy was perfect.

"A-a cool spurt of air! Th-that means a g-ghost is n-near, right?" Alfred started shaking.

"Does anyone else know about this phobia of ghosts?" Arthur asked.

"J-just M-Mattie."

"Then, I should have you know," Arthur grinned. "Just having me here won't protect you from a ghost. They can go right through me."

"What! They can?" Alfred leapt backwards and Arthur couldn't help but start laughing. "Dude, this isn't funny!" Alfred turned Arthur around and grabbed onto his shoulders tightly. "They could get you! I have to save you!"

"Save me from what?" Arthur still couldn't hold back his smile.

"The ghosts!" Alfred looked totally serious, which was what was getting Arthur the most. He seriously believed in ghosts. "Dude! I'm the hero, I can protect you from them!"

"Sure you can, Alfred," Arthur laughed. "Sure you can."

"Here," Alfred grabbed onto his wrist and started pulling him towards a decrepit building. "We might be safe in here." Once they got inside, he quickly closed the doors and pulled the moth-eaten drapes over the windows.

"Why did you want to come here when you're so terrified?" Arthur crossed his arms, still smiling.

"I-I'm not scared!" Alfred held onto Arthur's arms tightly. "Y-You're the one sh-shaking like a leaf!"

"I believe that shaking is you," Arthur laughed.

"Here," Alfred moved him so that his back was to a window. "I-I'll go investigate."

"What is there to investigate?" Arthur asked as Alfred departed quickly through the door. Arthur couldn't help but chuckle. He sure acted like an idiot sometimes. Mathew was a smart kid not wanting to come with them. How did he know Alfred found a ghost town? Arthur felt another cool breeze whip through, even through the wood of the house.

He heard Alfred yell loudly, probably because of the wind. Arthur couldn't help but laugh harder now as he leaned on the window sill. This one didn't even have a curtain, so it was easy to lean on.

"Dude, dude, dude!" Alfred's voice called through. He sounded like he was running for his life. "We have to go, man! There's like so many of them around here!" Alfred tore through the doors, running into the room. Before either Alfred or Arthur could say anything, Alfred rammed into Arthur head-on.

They both tumbled out the window, Arthur nearly being crushed by Alfred. And then they started rolling. Arthur hadn't noticed until then that the house was on a hill, a very steep hill at that. They were rolling over each other for a while and Arthur hit his head on something. He tried to look around, but the world was spinning too much for him to get a good look at anything.

Eventually, the rolling slowed to a stop and Alfred wound up on top of Arthur, his right hand and leg on one side of him, his left arm and leg on the other side. They both started laughing and Alfred got off Arthur, sitting on his right side.

"You lost the hat, dude," Alfred laughed as Arthur sat up.

"Well, I'm sorry," Arthur chuckled. "I was too busy trying not to get squashed by your fat arse."

"Hey, I'm not fat," Alfred playfully shoved Arthur over. "I'm just full of something that you don't have in England. It's called muscle!"

"I know plenty of muscle," Arthur smiled. "My brothers wouldn't hesitate to try to beat me up."

"You have brothers?" Alfred asked. He looked riveted.

"3 of them," Arthur rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "We don't really get along that well. You wouldn't like them all that much."

"If they're anything like you, I think we will get along just fine," Alfred smiled.

Arthur looked up around them for the first time. They were in that small forest, short trees were surrounding them and they were sitting on semi-dry grass. Behind Alfred was that river. It was running rapidly past them and Arthur could see a bright red fish swimming quickly through it. On the sides of the river where dark green leaves.

A warm breeze flowed through and Alfred stood up, his attention turning to the river.

"No way," he muttered, walking over to the side of the river. He stooped down next to the leaves and picked one up. "These are Mom's leaves…" Arthur stood up, looking over at Alfred to try to see his face. Alfred started playing with the leaf he picked up in between his fingers. "That means this was their spot…"

Arthur didn't quite know what to say. He was standing in a place that was practically sacred to Alfred. He kind of felt like he shouldn't be there.

"Arthur, I-I need your help with something," Alfred stood up, letting the leaf drop into the river and be swept off. He sounded nervous and he was scratching his head.

"Yeah?" Arthur asked as Alfred turned around.

"Y-you see… There's this…this girl. I-I haven't really known her for long, but I-I really like her," Alfred started stumbling with his words.

"You do?" Arthur asked. His hopes dropped slightly. So Alfred was into girls rather than men… "H-how do you know you like her?"

"Well," Alfred smiled slightly, like thinking of her made him the happiest person on Earth, "every time I'm around her, I feel happy. Warm inside, almost. She…she has the cutest ways of saying things and I just never feel the same when I'm not with her. I…My heart is always going extremely fast whenever I get near her and…I've told her things I don't think I've ever told anyone."

"You sound like you love her a lot," Arthur forced a smile out.

"I do," Alfred sighed, looking at the ground for a second before looking back up at Arthur. "But, I don't know if she likes me back. I don't know how to tell her I love her the way I do. I…I don't know how she would react to me liking her…"

"I'm sure she loves you back, Alfred," Arthur said. "She sounds like a lovely girl and there's no way anyone can not like you."

"You think so?" Alfred looked at him hopefully. Arthur nodded. "But…but how should I tell her that I love her?"

"Just come out with it," Arthur tried. "Just be straightforward and there's no way she can turn you down. I'm positive she likes you back. Just show her how you feel."

"You sure?" Alfred asked.

"Yes, I'm-" Arthur was cut off by something coming into contact with his lips. Arthur was almost shocked when he found Alfred's face right in front of his. It was him kissing Arthur. Alfred's hands were cupping Arthur's face, almost like he was making sure Arthur didn't try to get away.

But Arthur wouldn't have dreamed of doing that. The world could have stopped spinning right there and he wouldn't have cared. He wished he could have stayed like that forever. He was almost ready to close his eyes and kiss back, move his hands so that he could complete the link between himself and Alfred.

But they separated before Arthur had a chance to do anything. Alfred slowly opened his eyes, but didn't move his hands.

"A-Arthur, I…"

* * *

**I have to say that I really, really like this chapter. I don't know where this random inspiration came from, but I've been planning this chapter since I first came up with the idea of this story!**

**Um... I'm gonna warn y'all real quick. Next chapter is when things start to get really interesting. These past couple chapters have been boring, but we finally get to see the plot advance!**

**Um, please review, I really enjoy reading those and it makes me happy to read what people have to say. I've even have someone give me a website for cowboy facts, which led to me googling cowboys for about 2 hours last night. I've learned a lot about them! Even that some cowboys really were gay, but most of them are still homophobic.**

**I do not own anything in this world except for...no... I don't even own my computer...**


	7. Chapter 7

Arthur didn't know how to respond. Alfred stood there with his eyes wide for what seemed like forever. Eventually, though, he pulled away quickly stepping quite a few feet away.

"Shit," Alfred started muttering to himself. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! Why the hell did I just do that?" He ran his hand through his hair. "God, dammit! I'm an idiot! Why did I just do that?"

"Alfred," Arthur tried to get Alfred's attention, but he was too busy muttering to himself. "Alfred!" finally, that got his attention. "It's fine. I-I don't really care," Arthur rubbed the back of his head and he could feel himself blush.

"Wait," Alfred said, taking a couple steps back to Arthur. "Does that mean you're a…a queer?"

"I prefer not to call it that," Arthur crossed his arms. "But, yes, I am gay."

"Oh, thank God!" Alfred lunged at Arthur and wrapped him into a massive hug.

"I would appreciate it if you would get off me before I suffocate," Arthur said, trying to breathe through Alfred's hug.

"Sorry," Alfred said quickly, letting go of Arthur. "It's just…I didn't expect…Oh, my God, this is awesome!" Alfred was so excited he couldn't stay on one train of thought. He grabbed onto Arthur's shoulders. "You have no idea how happy I am right now!"

"I think I have an idea," Arthur couldn't help but smile at how much like a child Alfred was acting.

"Oh, my God, you're so cute!" Alfred said, hugging Arthur again, but softer this time.

Arthur laughed. "Th-thank you," he definitely couldn't hide his blush now.

"Wait," Alfred said, pulling Arthur out to arm's length while holding onto his shoulders. "Do you like me, too? I mean, I just want to make sure that I didn't just pour my heart out to someone who doesn't even like me."

Arthur couldn't help but let out another laugh. "Yes, Alfred, I like you back."

Alfred hugged him tightly again. "Thank you."

"So, does Mathew know about this?" Arthur couldn't help but ask as Alfred finally separated from him.

"Yeah, he knows," Alfred said, calming himself down. He sat down on the grass just a few feet from the river. Arthur moved to sit down next to him. "He's the only one though. And you, too."

"That would explain a lot," Arthur chuckled. "I have a feeling he knew we both liked each other."

"So, he was the one that put you in Pa's clothes!" Alfred said excitedly. "I knew it!"

"He was playing matchmaker?" Arthur asked, laughing slightly.

"I was wondering why he liked you so much," Alfred thought out loud. "He usually hates anyone that likes me."

"Mathew can hate people?" Arthur asked.

"Well, hate's a strong word," Alfred said. "But, I do know for a fact that he doesn't like Veronica."

"I can't quite say I enjoy her either," Arthur sighed.

"I don't either, really," Alfred smiled, looking at the stream. "To be honest, I don't know why she likes me so much. She's perfect for Chuck, but he doesn't like the idea of being 'taken.'" He put air quotes around "taken."

"I noticed that about her," Arthur grinned.

"Hey, do you wanna see what my Pa taught me?" Alfred asked, leaning forward to pick up one of the leaves on the ground.

Arthur laughed. "I have a feeling you would show me if I said no."

"Yup!" Alfred said happily. He took the leaf and pressed it to his mouth with both hands. All of a sudden, there was a high-pitched humming sound coming from the leaf as it looked like it was buzzing. Alfred closed his eyes, like he was concentrating really hard.

Arthur grinned as a warm breeze blew between them. The sound coming from the leaf was amazing. It was very pretty and fascinating at the same time.

When Alfred finally stopped and put the leaf down, he was grinning like an idiot.

"That was amazing," Arthur marveled. "I've never seen anyone do that before. How do you do it?"

"Well, you have to have everything just right," Alfred said. "It took me forever to get it right. And I would kill to show Pa that I can finally do it."

"I'm starting to like your father the more you talk about him," Arthur smiled.

"I have an idea," Alfred said. "Here, lie on your back."

"Why?" Arthur asked as he did what he was told. Above them there were no trees so they had a perfect view of the sky above them. There were more clouds than there were the day before and they were slowly floating around in circles.

Arthur felt Alfred scoot next to him so that their arms were touching and Alfred pointed up in the sky. It vaguely looked like he was pointing at one of the clouds.

"What do you think that cloud looks like?" Alfred asked him.

"Um, it looks like a cloud," Arthur stated, looking at Alfred in confusion.

"Look back at it," Alfred ordered him. Arthur looked at it again. He didn't quite know what he meant by what it looked like. "I think it looks kind of like a horse."

"What?" Arthur laughed. "That doesn't look much like a horse."

"Then what does it look like, genius?" Alfred elbowed him lightly.

"I don't know," Arthur chuckled. "It looks something like a shark to me."

"What's a shark?" Alfred asked and Arthur laughed.

"It's a fish in the ocean that eats all of the other fish," Arthur tried to explain it the best he could to someone like Alfred.

"I've never seen a real fish before…" Alfred sighed. He pointed to another cloud. "What do you think that one looks like?"

"A top hat," Arthur decided.

"I see a spur," Alfred said.

"Are all of the things you see from the West?" Arthur asked.

"That's all I really know," Alfred shrugged.

"The one just below the spur looks like a boot," Arthur smiled. He had to admit, this was the most fun he had had in what felt like years. He was told he had to grow up fast back at home. It was weird being a kid again. He had heard of this game before, he saw kids in the park playing it all the time. He could never see it before, but now he did.

"What about the one next to it? It looks kinda like a house," Alfred said, tilting his head away from Arthur.

"If you look the other way, it looks like a chair," Arthur said, tilting his head away from Alfred.

"Really?" Alfred asked, tilting his head to the other side and it seemed to rest on Arthur's shoulder. "I guess it does."

Arthur sighed happily. This was actually pretty nice. His whole life he was stressed and he had to know what was proper and only act that way. Out here, he was allowed to relax. He was allowed to actually be himself for a change.

"Hey, we should bring these leaves to Mattie," Alfred sat up. "He would love to know where to find them. We could plant them somewhere closer, too."

"I think they look just fine here, though," Arthur said, propping himself up on his elbows.

"I thought it would be creepy, finding their special place," Alfred sighed. "But it's actually pretty nice… It feels like home…"

"It is nice," Arthur admitted. He wished he could have just stayed there forever, staring at clouds and listening to the leaves whistle. He could live with that warm breeze forever and he would never have to move.

"Aw, holy cow, Freedom!" Alfred said, scrambling to his feet. "I totally forgot about her! She spooks so easily and I left her in the middle of the ghost town! We need to go get her!"

Without warning, Alfred ran off, back to where they rolled down the hill. Arthur got up quickly and ran after him. The hill was a lot steeper than Arthur expected it to be. He wound up slipping down most of the time and decided to try and see if he could walk up slowly, but that didn't work out either. He settled on crawling, as that worked out the best. On his climb up the hill, he noticed that there was a black spot a few yards away. He carefully crawled over to it and found that it was Alfred's hat. Deciding he needed his hands free, Arthur reluctantly put it on top of his head as he climbed up the rest of the hill.

Eventually, he got to flat ground and saw decrepit buildings all around him. He stopped for a second to catch his breath and then stood up, stepping into town to look for Alfred. He only had to walk around for about a minute before he found the main road that he and Alfred rode in on. Sure enough, Alfred was there, petting his horse.

"I found your hat," Arthur said as he walked towards Alfred.

"Good, keep it on," Alfred smiled.

"Why do _I _have to wear _your_ hat?" Arthur groaned.

"Because it's mine and if you have it, that also means you're mine," Alfred laughed.

"That's why you have me wear it?" Arthur asked.

"That," Alfred shrugged. "And the fact that it hides your huge-ass eyebrows."

"I will have you know, I like my eyebrows!" Arthur said defensively.

"They're damn sexy," Alfred grinned at him, walking over so that he was right in front of Arthur. Arthur had to look up to look at his face.

"Then why do you want to hide them?" Arthur crossed his arms in front of himself.

"'Cause I'm jealous?" Alfred tried using his thumbs to rub Arthur's eyebrows.

"You're jealous of my eyebrows?" Arthur laughed. "Stop doing that, it feels weird."

"Fine," Alfred smiled, turning around. "Do you need help getting on the horse again?"

"I have no idea how you get on it by yourself," Arthur shook his head.

"Practice," Alfred said proudly as Arthur walked over to him.

"Right," Arthur laughed.

"This time, I really know how much you weigh," Alfred smiled. "So I probably won't almost throw you this time."

"Just as long as I don't get hurt, I think I'll be fine," Arthur laughed.

"Kay, here we go," Alfred said, grabbing hold of Arthur's hips and lifting him up on to the horse. Arthur still felt like he was about to slip off as Alfred hopped on in front of him.

"So, I have a question for you," Arthur said as Alfred turned Freedom around towards the exit of the town. "Did you just go fast on our way over here so I would cling on to you?"

"What do you think?" Alfred hummed as he kicked the horse, who in turn started running. Arthur, again, had to cling onto Alfred to prevent himself from falling off.

"I think I was right," Arthur muttered as Alfred kept on getting Freedom to go faster and faster.

"I also just think it's fun to go fast," Alfred said. "I like feeling the wind in my hair. I named Freedom after I rode her once. I just got such a good feeling when she ran."

"How old were you?" Arthur couldn't help but ask.

"I dunno," Alfred said. "Maybe 12, 13?"

They were quiet for a while after that. They stayed quiet until the town came up slowly over the horizon. They rode into town and Arthur couldn't help but notice how bare the town seemed. He looked up and the sun seemed to be halfway up in the sky. Where could everyone be?

"Hey, so what did Mattie say what he was makin' for supper?" Alfred asked as Freedom rode in front of the stables.

"Um, chili," Arthur recalled. Alfred jumped off of Freedom and Arthur followed, without Alfred's help this time.

"Sweet!" Alfred said happily. "I love Mattie's chili!"

"So did Sheri," Arthur laughed as Alfred went inside of the stables with Freedom.

"She sure looks like she likes you a lot," Alfred sighed from inside.

"So does every girl in this town," Arthur crossed his arms. "Doesn't mean I have to like them back."

"I know how that feels," Alfred came out smiling. "You know, it's weird. Mattie looks exactly like me, but no one really seems to notice him."

"Maybe it's because you're so loud," Arthur smiled. They started walking towards the house. Arthur still couldn't get over the fact that hardly anyone was around town.

"Mattie can be loud!" Alfred tried. "When he wants to be…"

"Which I think is not often," Arthur laughed.

"He likes being quiet," Alfred admitted. "But at least he's happy that way."

"You really care for your brother a lot," Arthur sighed.

"You know you love your family, too," Alfred elbowed Arthur playfully.

"Can't say I do, to be honest," Arthur said, looking up at the sky. That cloud looked like a dog… "They're the reason I'm stuck here."

"C'mon! You love it here, dude!" Alfred laughed.

"Yes, I do," Arthur laughed, too, as they came up to the house and started walking up the stairs to the porch.

"I wonder how far Mattie's gotten on the chili," Alfred wondered out loud as he opened the door to their house.

* * *

**I'm so sorry I haven't updated in, like, a week! I came across a giant heaping wall of writers block and homework combined. I'm so sorry! To make up for it, I'm gonna try to update both of my stories everyday this weekend. Since I have no homework, it should be fine. But I really am sorry!**

**Please review, tell me how I'm doing writing. Oh, random cowboy fact for the day, If a cowboy says "dude," he has absolutely no clue what he's doing. Guess that means Alfred really doesn't know what the hell he's doing!**

**Nothing is what I own, not Hetalia.**


	8. Chapter 8

"Mattie! We're back!" Alfred called out as they stepped into the house.

While Alfred had his back to Arthur, Arthur picked the hat up off his head and put it onto Alfred's. Arthur then walked quickly over to the kitchen before Alfred could move the hat back.

"How was Alfred's surprise?" Mathew asked when Arthur walked into the kitchen.

"You knew what it was going to be, didn't you?" Arthur asked. Alfred walked in behind him and he felt the hat back on his head. Arthur quickly tore it off his head and dropped it onto the ground.

"Was it the ghost town?" Mathew asked, he was sitting down at the table, looking like he was just drinking something. The cup looked empty.

"How'd ya know?" Alfred asked, sitting down across from Mathew.

"You've taken me there before," Mathew laughed. "You obviously can't remember."

"I try to forget bad memories," Alfred said with a wave of his hand. "That town's freakin' creepy, dude."

"So why did you go back?" Arthur asked, leaning against the wall in the kitchen.

"Because I'm awesome and I never back down from a challenge," Alfred smirked.

"Find anything new this time?" Mathew asked.

"Yeah!" Alfred said excitedly, like he just remembered something. He dug into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out the leaf he had used to whistle with. He presented it to Mathew. "We found the patch!"

"What? You did?" Mathew stood up to reach over the side of the table to grab onto the leaf.

"We found it after he pushed me down a hill," Arthur said, smiling.

"Yeah, we found the river and everything!" Alfred said happily. "It was actually really pretty! I taught Artie how to find shapes in the clouds!"

"You've never done that before?" Mathew looked over to Arthur.

"Um, not really," Arthur rubbed the back of his head. "I never quite had the chance."

"Maybe because clouds always cover the entire sky all the way in England," Alfred laughed.

"England's not that bad, entirely," Arthur grinned.

"But it's better over here, right?" Alfred leaned back in his chair.

"You shouldn't do that, you're gonna fall," Mathew said.

"Oh, hey, I have something else I wanna show you," Alfred said, grabbing the leaf out of Mathew's hands. "You know that thing Pa would show us all the time? When he would blow into the leaf?"

"Yeah…" Mathew said. "Did you finally figure out how to do it?"

"Yeah," Alfred said excitedly. "Check it out." He pressed the leaf to his mouth again, closed his eyes, and then the whistle sounded off.

"Wow," Mathew smiled after Alfred was done.

"I know, right?" Alfred said happily, leaning back in his chair again.

"I'm tempted to just push you over in that chair," Arthur teased.

"Aw, you wouldn't dream of doing that," Alfred looked back to Arthur.

"Hey, Mathew," Arthur said, removing his attention from Alfred to Mathew. "Do you know where everyone went? It seems like the town is empty."

"Chuck said he was getting everyone together to talk about something," Mathew sighed. "I think only Mary Lou and I are the only ones that didn't go."

"What does Chuck have to talk about?" Alfred asked. "The only thing I hear him talking about is not even close to important enough for the whole town to hear."

"Where are they, do you know?" Arthur asked.

"Probably the main hall," Mathew said.

"That's where the party was last night," Alfred informed.

"The party where you got me drunk?" Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, I did you a favor!" Alfred laughed. "You enjoyed the party so much more after you started drinking!"

"What the hell did I even do?" Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Well, first you just kinda started complaining about your life," Alfred said, stretching. "But then, after a while you became a real flirt. I think that's why all the girls like you more today than they did yesterday."

"Why, Alfred," Arthur sighed, but he couldn't hide the fact that he was smiling.

"You know you loved that party," Alfred laughed.

"I still feel bad for him," Mathew sighed. "You could have warned him."

"I did," Alfred said.

"Before I downed an entire glass," Arthur added.

"Hey, how about you think about the good times!" Alfred said. "Like when I taught you how to dance."

"I will have you know that I can dance," Arthur said defensively. "Just not your kind of dancing."

"Then what kind of dances can you do?" Alfred stopped leaning in his chair. He turned around in it and crossed his arms.

"I know things like the waltz," Arthur rolled his eyes. "You know, ballroom dances."

"'Ballroom,'" Alfred and Mathew mused together.

Arthur blinked a few times before responding. "Dancing slowly to slow music played by an orchestra."

"'Orchestra,'" Alfred mused, alone this time.

Arthur let his face fall into his hand. "Dear God, you're hopeless."

"Well, if you're so good at your weird dancing, you should teach me how to do it," Alfred said and Arthur looked up. Did he really just ask that? "What's the problem?" Alfred started laughing. "Scared of teaching me?"

"I am not, you twat," Arthur retorted.

Alfred stood up and walked over to Arthur so that they were close to one another.

"Then teach me," he grinned.

"I will have you know it's hard to teach without any music," Arthur sputtered, he could feel his face heat up dramatically with Alfred being this close, his sly grin nearly melting Arthur.

"I could give you a beat," Mathew sighed dreamily.

"Thank you, Mattie," Alfred averted his attention from Arthur for a moment for a second, before turning back to Arthur. "I'll give you a deal, 'kay, Artie? Teach me how to dance and you can stop wearing my hat."

"That's not very much of a deal," Arthur sighed.

"I'm not finished," Alfred smiled. "If you teach me how to dance you can stop wearing my hat. And I'll call ya Arthur, not Artie."

"I highly doubt you could pull that one off," Arthur laughed.

"Wanna bet?" Alfred placed one hand on the wall next to Arthur's head. "I keep my promises."

"And what happens if you don't?" Arthur challenged.

"Then I'll tell ev'ryone I'm a faggot," Alfred grinned.

"That sure of yourself?" Arthur cocked an eyebrow.

"Yup," Alfred nodded.

"Alright then, I'll teach you," Arthur grinned.

"Sweet," Alfred smiled and backed up.

"Okay," Arthur sighed, stepping towards Alfred and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Now you put your hand on my waist."

"So are you teaching me the guy part or the girl part?" Alfred asked as he did what he was told.

"Do you look like someone who can pull off the girl part?" Arthur asked.

"You do," Alfred laughed.

"Bring your hand up like this," Arthur grinned, bringing his hand up and to the side. Alfred mimicked him. "And then you're going to take a step forwards with your left foot."

* * *

Teaching Alfred to dance was a lot harder than Arthur anticipated. He kept on trying to move quickly and Arthur struggled to try to keep him still.

After about an hour of having Mathew crack up watching them, Arthur finally gave up and left it where it was there. The two dancers moved to sit back down on opposite sides at the table while Mathew set to work cooking in the kitchen.

"Your dance is so boring!" Alfred complained as he sat down.

"It's only boring because you have a short attention span," Arthur grinned, also sitting down.

"So, when did you two get so close?" Mathew asked while he started messing with all of the things Arthur got from the store.

"Somewhere between when you got Arthur into those clothes and when you purposefully had us go out somewhere alone," Alfred said, stretching.

"You caught on," Mathew giggled. "I was waiting for that."

"Since when do you play matchmaker, Mattie?" Alfred asked.

"Since I saw the way you looked at him," Mathew hummed.

"It wasn't obvious, was it?" Alfred asked.

"Well, if they don't pay much attention like I obviously did," Arthur sighed, "then I don't think many people noticed."

"If you ask me, I think it was kind of cute," Mathew sighed happily.

"Yes, me falling over the railing of our porch and hurting my shoulder was adorable," Alfred groaned. "You have no idea how bad that messed me up today."

"So you did cause the stampede," Arthur laughed.

"No, I didn't!" Alfred groaned. "I blame Chuck. He was the one that gave me that pistol and I accidentally pulled the trigger. I told him I hate guns and he shouldn't have given it to me!"

"Why do you hate guns?" Arthur couldn't help but ask. Most of the people he knew couldn't care less about guns.

"I don't like the idea of killing people," Alfred sighed, leaning back in his chair. "I'm gonna be a hero someday and heroes don't kill people. We save them. I don't even use spurs because I'm afraid of hurting Freedom."

"That's sweet," Arthur smiled sweetly.

"But, yeah, I don't even like touching guns," Alfred sighed. "I keep telling him that, but he keeps trying to teach me how to shoot."

"Well, you might need to know how to someday," Arthur said helpfully.

"I'll make sure I won't," Alfred sighed. "Hey, Mattie, how long until the chili's done?"

"I don't know," Mathew shrugged. "However long it takes. It might go faster if I had help."

Alfred looked at Arthur, shrugging.

"Hey, don't look at me," Arthur waved his hands in front of himself. "I-I can't cook."

"Well, I taught you how to dance, I can teach ya to cook," Alfred stood up.

"No, no, I'm fine," Arthur rubbed the back of his head. "To be honest, everything I touch that's food usually turns inedible."

"Aw, c'mon Art…Arthur," Alfred caught himself before he messed up Arthur's name. "You can so cook!"

"No, I…I really can't," Arthur sighed.

"I know you can," Alfred said helpfully, walking over to Arthur's side.

"You're not going to change my mind this time," Arthur shook his head.

"What about if I do this?" Alfred leaned down so that he could reach Arthur sitting down, tilted Arthur's head up, and then kissed him lightly. It only lasted for a couple seconds before Alfred leaned back. "I know you can cook…" he muttered.

"How about not," Arthur grinned. "But thank you for the kiss."

"Aw, come on!" Alfred groaned, standing up all the way. "I thought that would've worked!"

"But it didn't," Arthur pointed out. He subconsciously crossed one of his legs over the other, like girls do. His brothers always said that he did that, but Arthur never noticed.

"I'm gonna make you cook one day," Alfred said, sitting back down in his seat across from Arthur.

"That will be the same day you get a saddle for your horse," Arthur laughed.

"Is that a deal?" Alfred asked.

"I'm not making any more deals with you," Arthur chuckled. "You just almost broke the one we just made."

"Ah, but I didn't," Alfred pointed out.

"You still got close," Arthur pointed out.

"Hey, look out the window," Mathew said, nodding his head towards the window. "I think they're all back."

Alfred looked out the window. "It looks like their searching for something."

"Wanna go find out what it is?" Mathew asked him.

"Yeah, c'mon Arthur," Alfred started for the door.

* * *

**And second update in two days! So proud of myself. Next chapter things get intense. Finally, right?**

**I have a feeling I won't be updating my other story, Salem Alfred Trials much... Just because of that damn thing we call writers block. I'm about ready to kill someone because of that! God...**

**Also, on my profile, I have a poll up. I have a choice between four stories to start once I'm done with the two I'm writing now. Please vote on it, you're allowed to have 2 choices!**

**And please review and I own nothing!**


	9. Chapter 9

Arthur silently followed Alfred out the front door and onto the front porch. It seemed like the entire town was outside in front of the house. Chuck was the closest one.

"Well, look at that," Chuck said loudly. Arthur couldn't help but notice how cocky he sounded. "The faggots came out to play."

"W-what?" Alfred stuttered.

"Come again?" Arthur asked, leaning against the door frame of the front door.

Chuck chuckled. "Don't think ah didn't see ya two in front of that river near that ghost town."

Alfred laughed. Arthur noticed that he seemed nervous. His voice stayed cool, but Arthur could tell Alfred was shaking. "Whatcha talkin' 'bout, Chuck? Ah was just showin' Arthur 'round!"

"'Round your mouth, maybe," Chuck grinned slyly.

"What the hell are ya talkin' 'bout?" Alfred started to sound more and more nervous.

"See, Chuck?" Veronica came up next to Chuck. "I told ya he didn't do that!"

"What proof ya got he didn't?" Chuck snapped at her.

"Your word versus his," Arthur pointed out calmly. He didn't know whether or not to lie or tell the truth. So he avoided doing either. "No offense, but Alfred seems to be a little more trustworthy than you."

"Ah know fer a fact ya two kissed," Chuck said matter-of-factly.

"No, we didn't!" Alfred chuckled nervously. "Watcha talkin' 'bout? You goin' insane, Chuck?"

"Ah've known yer were a faggot for a while, kid," Chuck crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Ya don't make it very secretive."

"So, is this why you called a town meeting?" Arthur asked. "To tell everyone an assumption?"

"It's no longer an assumption," Chuck walked up the steps of the porch. "Ah know."

"What do ya know, exactly?" Alfred cocked an eyebrow as Chuck stood right in front of him.

"Ya like Artie, that much's obvious," Chuck grinned. "And ya kissed 'im."

"I did not!" Alfred yelled at him, his accent forgotten.

"Did ya like it, ya queer?" Chuck challenged him.

"What are you talking about?" Alfred was starting to freak out. Arthur stopped leaning against the wall. This was not going to end well, he could tell already.

"Down by that river, where yer wimp of a mother killed herself," Chuck stated. "Wasn't that where it was?"

"Shut up!" Alfred nearly screamed at him. He started backing away from Chuck slightly. It was getting really obvious he was shaking now.

"Alfred!" Mathew came out of the door now. "What's going on?"

"Mattie probably knows, yeah?" Chuck grinned victoriously, like he knew he had just won.

"What?" Mathew squeaked. Arthur noticed that this little bout had gotten the whole town to watch. It looked like there was a kind of mob around the house. Veronica was waiting at the base of the stairs with her arms crossed, like she was waiting for this to all end in her favor.

"H-he thinks ah'm a faggot," Alfred chuckled lightly, but his face didn't show a smile.

Mathew turned his attention to Chuck. "I will have you know, Alfred does not like men." Mathew was a good liar. His voice didn't waver, nor did his eyes or his face. Arthur wished he had that kind of a skill.

"Havin' yer brother lie fer ya?" Chuck said with mock disappointment.

"I-ah am not!" Alfred said defensively.

"Ah saw ya kiss 'im. Right in front of that weird patch of tree leaves on the ground."

"They were tea leaves, you idiot!" Alfred yelled at him.

"Alfie…" Veronica said from the base of the stairs.

Alfred looked terrified at this point. It was obvious he didn't mean the last thing he spoke, he just blurted it out.

"I kissed him," Arthur stated, stepping towards Chuck. Everyone's attention turned to him. "He didn't kiss me back."

Alfred looked over to him, his face full of worry, but also relief.

"Didn't look like that from what ah saw," Chuck said.

"From what you saw," Arthur said. "From what we experienced I kissed him. We've put that behind us now. Like you, I thought he was like me in liking men. Now I know he's not."

Arthur was surprised with how level his voice stayed.

"So, you admit yer a queer?" Chuck now moved over to Arthur, wrapping his arm around his shoulders.

"I have no reason to deny it," Arthur stated.

"And he's not?" Chuck pointed towards Alfred.

"I can honestly say he isn't," Arthur stated.

"Now, will someone tell me what is goin' on here?" a voice yelled from a distance. It was Mary Lou's. There was a period of silence before she spoke again. "Ah do not like seein' mobs in this town!" she yelled as the crowd seemed to part for her. She stood next to Veronica at the foot of the stairs. "Now tell me what the hell's goin' on here!"

"Just hangin' around, miss," Chuck grinned at her.

"Ya don't make me swoon, Chuck," Mary Lou said bluntly. "Now tell me what's been goin' on."

"Well, we found out Artie's a queer," Chuck laughed. "And he's been puttin' the moves on Alfie."

"You have got to be kiddin' me," Mary Lou sighed, going up the stairs onto the porch. "Arthur, ah apologize for these idiots and their behavior."

"It's quite alright," Arthur said. "I-I don't mind much."

"Ah do not like the idea of this goin' on in mah town," Mary Lou said irritably.

"Well, ah'm quite sorry, Miss Mary Lou," Chuck said sarcastically. "We'll stop if ya want us to."

"That's not good enough for me, Chuck," Mary Lou snapped. "Arthur, ah think it might be best if you stayed with me for now."

"Oh, I'm quite alright where I am now," Arthur said nervously.

"Ah have a feeling you'll just get inta more trouble if you stay with these twins," Mary Lou shook her head. "And ah don't think they can take care o more than they got right now. Ah think ah should insist you stay with me."

"That'd be good, right Alfie?" Chuck laughed heartily. "It'd get this faggot with a crush outta your hair!"

"Uh…um…" Alfred mumbled.

"That's enough of that, Chuck," Mary Lou warned him. "Mathew, be a dear and bring me Arthur's belongings."

"Hey, I haven't agreed to anything yet," Arthur tried as Mathew nodded politely and retreated inside of the house.

"Well, ah don't think Alfie wants ya around anymore, so where else ya got to stay?" Chuck laughed.

"And ah believe that is Alfie's decision to decide," Mary Lou glared at Chuck.

"Well, Alfie?" Chuck looked over at Alfred, who looked like some sort of terrified animal.

"I…um…well…" Alfred didn't seem like he could say anything. "Uh… I…"

"C'mon, out with it, kid," Chuck said irritably.

"Ah…ah guess…i-it would be n-nice to get him o-out of the way…" Alfred murmured.

Chuck scoffed. "Well, there ya have it."

Arthur looked over to Alfred quickly, who had an apology trace across his face. Arthur gave a subtle nod that he was pretty sure only Alfred could see. Alfred still looked terrified, but he was relaxing slightly. Arthur could have to say he understood his reaction. Arthur knew what it felt like when he realized he liked men. He was afraid people would treat him differently if they found out, so he refrained from telling anyone. Here in this town was the first place he came out with it to anyone, other than his brothers. And, just by seeing Chuck's reaction, Alfred had a reason to not want anyone to know here. Arthur knew he did love Alfred, so he might as well protect him the best he could.

"Fine, then, I will go," Arthur sighed. "If that's what you all want."

"That's great, Alfie!" Veronica spoke loudly, running up onto the porch to latch onto Alfred's arm. Alfred seemed to almost jump at the sudden contact, like he didn't expect it. "Ah was slightly scared when Chuck told me 'bout that little kiss. But now ah'm happy to know ya only like me. Right, Alfie?"

"Um, r-right…" Alfred mumbled.

Mathew came out with Arthur's suitcase and silently handed it over to Arthur.

"Thank you, Mathew," Arthur said politely.

"We should get movin', Arthur," Mary Lou said. "We don't know how much weight this porch was built to take."

"Oh, um, right," Arthur said, moving around Chuck, Alfred, and Veronica to get to the steps of the porch. Arthur looked up to the sky for a short second. Just to check if the cloud that looked like a dog was still there. It had changed into a gun.

* * *

Mary Lou's house was rather large. Arthur couldn't quite say that he could have expected that. He knew it was the mayor's house, but it looked rather average from the outside when he saw it those few times before.

There was a large sitting room right when you entered the house, and the porch from the front wrapped all the way around the house. There was a door in the back of the sitting room where you could see far beyond the town and even the river. Also on the bottom floor was a kitchen, far larger than the one in Alfred and Mathew's house. And there were two doors, one tall and skinny, and the other one looked normal. In between the two doors were stairs that led to the second floor.

When Arthur was led upstairs, he was slightly astounded to find another sitting room taking up a lot of space. On the outskirts of the room, there were several doors, 6 to be exact. There were 2 on each wall, save for the one with the stairs. Mary Lou led him to a door on the left that was closest to them. The room was rather long, and on the wall furthest from the door, there was a bed. A few feet from that, on the wall to the right was a desk with a mirror. Next to that was a dresser. Across from the desk was a window that looked like it overlooked the porch.

"Um, thank you for this, by the way," Arthur turned to Mary Lou.

"It's no problem, dear," Mary Lou smiled at him. "By, the way, ah think what ya did for Alfie was sweet."

"What are you talking about?" Arthur asked.

"Ah know about Alfie," Mary Lou informed. "Ah have no doubt in mah mind he likes ya. And if you would do all this for him, it's obvious you like 'im too. You're sweet to do this for 'im."

"Um, thank you, I guess…" Arthur rubbed the back of his head.

"Ah just wanna make sure yer safe, Arthur," Mary Lou stated. "That's why ah brought ya here."

"Safe from what?" Arthur asked

"Chuck can be eccentric," Mary Lou informed him, turning towards the door of the room. "Especially when it comes to things like this. And ah know mah town, it's better that ya stay here."

"I'm not quite sure what you mean," Arthur said. "But I can say I can trust you enough to believe you."

"Supper's at 6 then," Mary Lou said and Arthur heard the door close.

Arthur set his suitcase down to lean against the dresser and stepped towards the window to look out of it. He had a perfect view of a lot of the small town. The crowd had disappeared from the front of Alfred and Mathew's house. But Alfred was sitting on the steps of his porch, his head resting in his hand. Veronica was sitting next to him, seeming to chat away a storm. Chuck was leaning against the side of the store, right next to the door. He was talking confidently to a crowd of maybe 5 others. He seemed proud of himself, like he was gloating. Sheri was standing in front of Mary Lou's house. She was with a group of girls. They all seemed to be gossiping about something, like they were making a plan.

Arthur sighed and sat down on the bed. It wasn't anywhere near as soft as Alfred's was, but it was comfortable enough. Arthur scooted further onto the bed so that he leaned against the wall and crossed his legs comfortably.

He took a deep breath and let it out. What did Mary Lou mean? Was she protecting him? From what? Arthur would have to find out tomorrow…

Would Alfred talk to him?

* * *

**Woo-hoo! Three in a row! If we're lucky, this will continue tomorrow. If my teachers are nice, which probably won't happen...**

**Anywho, I'm pretty proud of myself here, to be honest, I had no idea how I was going to get Arthur to stay with Mary Lou in the first place, but it's important that this happened, you'll see why later. I'm very happy it actually flowed easily into that happening.**

**Um, please review, tell me how I'm doing. I really like all of the constructive critisism people have been sending me, even if I don't reply. Don't worry if you think you're being rude, I really appreciate everything you guys have to say and I will put it to use in my story!**

**Oh, yeah, cowboy fact. Since I forgot one yesterday, I'll give you two at once. Cowboy's are actually the people who came up with this kind of a code. It stated things like being polite to women and greeting other cowboys when they were on random trails. They were nice to everyone. And it was considered rude to ask a stranger their name or where they were from. Cowboys believed that the stranger would tell them eventually when they felt like it. Turns out Chuck's a bad cowboy and taught poor Alfred his bad cowboy ways.**

**And I don't own anything. As per usual.**


	10. Chapter 10

Arthur woke up to a bright light shining through the window. It was directed in such a way that it shone right on his face. We was tempted to roll over and go back to sleep, but he made himself sit up in his bed. He dangled his feet over the side of the bed and stretched his arms above his head. He was thankful that he actually remembered the night before this time.

He ate supper, which turned out to be corn and a beef brisket. And then he mainly stayed upstairs in his room. He got to meet a mayor of the town. He was tall and slightly fat, and his hair was slightly balding. Arthur couldn't tell what color his hair was, it was either black or brown. His eyes were a pretty, green though. He talked with a hearty voice that belted out loudly, perfect for an authority figure. But, he did seem a bit rude. Okay, really rude. Arthur couldn't help but notice that he never really complimented Mary Lou, but he took any chance he had to degrade her. And all he did was sit around and go into the door that was next to the stairs, the normal one, not the tall, skinny one. Mary Lou said that was his office, where he did all of his work. But Arthur had a feeling that his "work" was just sitting in a chair and dozing off.

Arthur stood up from his bed and walked over to his suitcase. He figured he could very well just put on the shirt he had been wearing underneath his suit when he first got here and then put that vest on over that. He also kept his jeans on. But he still couldn't figure out the damn bolo tie, so he just let that be for now.

Arthur checked outside the window quickly. The entire town seemed to be awake, and that circle of gossip girls were still in front of the house. They looked like they were waiting for something and Arthur was dreading that it was him they were waiting for. Alfred probably wouldn't be around this time to save him from them. Or Mary Lou, she said she had important business to do out of town, so she would be around.

Arthur sighed, putting his (Alfred's) shoes on and heading down stairs. He would have killed for a cup of that special tea this morning. The mayor, Bill was his name, was sleeping on the couch when Arthur got downstairs. Alfred was right, he really did do nothing all day. Arthur quietly walked by him and out the door, silently shutting the door behind himself. The minute he stepped out of the door, he heard the girls start to talk quickly and louder.

Arthur put his hands in his pockets and started going down the stairs of the porch. He had no idea what he was going to do today, to be honest. Maybe he would find someone he hadn't met yet and talk to them? Unlikely anyone would talk to him now…

"Hey, Artie!" Or perhaps he was wrong. It was Sheri who spoke first, running up to him. "How are ya today?"

"Fine," Arthur sighed. "How are you, Sheri?"

"I'm wonderful!" she said happily.

"I'm great, too, Artie," another woman came up to him

"I'm perfect," another one came up.

"Um, that's great," Arthur said nervously. He now noticed that he was surrounded by the rest of the group of girls.

"So, what did you plan on doing today, Artie?" Sheri asked, grabbing onto Arthur's upper arm.

"I…um, don't quite know yet," Arthur explained.

"Ah have an idea for something we could do!" the third woman said excitedly.

"No, ah think he should go with me!" another one behind Arthur said.

"Why should you have 'im?" another one said, and another pair of hands gripped onto Arthur's arm.

"Um, I-" Arthur tried to talk, but the girls around him started arguing.

"You're just bein' greedy!"

"What if he wants ta go with me?"

"What if he doesn't?"

"Shut up! Ah had 'im first!"

"Ah danced with 'im!"

"So did ah!"

"Excuse me, please, ladies," Arthur said loudly enough so that they all stopped arguing. "I think I might just go off on my own for today, sorry." He pulled his arms away from the girls.

"Aw, come on, Artie!"

"I'm sorry," Arthur said, stepping away from the now large group. "But it would be nice to be alone for now. Th-thank you."

Arthur walked away from the crowd quickly before any more of them could complain. What was making them all so interested in him? It didn't make any sense… Hadn't it just been said that he liked men yesterday? But they all seemed far more attracted than ever.

Arthur sighed as he continued walking through town. He still wasn't quite sure what to do now. Normally, he would sit inside and read a book, but he hadn't thought to bring any with him when he came to America and there weren't any inside of Mary Lou's house. There really wasn't anything to do.

"Arthur!" a familiar, male voice said behind him. Arthur turned around and saw that man…Jim was his name. "I thought that was you." Jim started walking towards Arthur. "It's hard to recognize you without the suit."

"Oh, hello," Arthur nodded towards him as Jim came up to him. He stopped walking.

"I heard a lot about what happened yesterday," Jim said. "I wasn't really around, I was busy building another stable. Our current one is a little cramped."

"What all did you hear about yesterday?" Arthur asked.

"A lot," Jim said solemnly. "I thought I told you not to let Chuck bother you."

"I-I'm not," Arthur waved his hands in front of himself. "I honestly don't really care what Chuck does."

Jim sighed. "I'm just saying you shouldn't let him get what he wants."

"I don't really mind it much right now," Arthur said.

"Just watch your back, okay?" Jim said.

"I'll be fine," Arthur assured him.

"Right, then," Jim sighed. "I guess I best be back to buildin' that stable."

"Nice seeing you again, then," Arthur said and then Jim went off.

Arthur looked up at the sky where he was to look at the clouds overhead. There weren't very many right above him and they were right next to the sun, so he didn't get much of a chance to look at them. However, far over to the right, just barely covering the horizon, there was a dark layer of ominous looking clouds. It looked like it might rain soon. But the clouds were very far away. It would probably take about a day for the clouds to reach them.

Arthur was about to start walking again when he heard a scream come from behind him. Arthur turned around quickly. It sounded like it was coming from the store. Curious, Arthur ran over to the store to see what was going on. There was another scream as Arthur neared the store. In front of it, though, Arthur did not expect what was there.

It was a man he had never seen before. He had on a cowboy hat that was so wide brimmed, it hid his face. He had long black hair that stuck out underneath it. He was wearing a long, brown trench coat, a white shirt, jeans, and a pair of black boots. In his hand, he held a six-shot pistol. He was pointing it at anyone in his line of sight. Behind him, there was a large bag and to his right, was a black horse.

Arthur saw that his pistol was aimed right at Sheri's head.

"God, no," Arthur muttered to himself. Without thinking, Arthur found himself running again and, before he knew it, he was between Sheri and that gun. He could see the man smirk from underneath his hat.

"Got us a hero now, eh?" the man had a deep, cocky voice. The man stepped forward and Arthur felt a strong hand grip onto his wrist and pull him towards the man. In a quick motion Arthur couldn't see, the man had both of his arms pinned behind his back painfully. Arthur couldn't move and he felt something cold and made of metal press against his temple.

"Better not move there, pretty boy," the man whispered into Arthur's ear. Then he turned his attention to the rest around the store. "Make one move and he's dead."

Arthur didn't dare move. He stayed there, frozen, for a while. And then the man started walking backwards, making Arthur follow him. The man seemed like he was about to reach behind him, but Arthur heard the sound of horses galloping towards them. The man froze, but he pressed the pistol harder into the side of Arthur's skull.

Thankfully, as the sound of galloping got louder, Arthur could see people on horses coming closer. The first one to come into the scene was Alfred, riding on Freedom. He brought her to a stop just a couple yards away from Arthur and that man.

"Woah, woah, woah, now," Alfred said, Arthur noticed that he was holding his lasso in his hand, like it was his weapon. He was wearing the cowboy hat. "What's goin' on here?"

The man scoffed. "Come any closer and he's gone," he warned.

"Do ah look like ah need to get any closer?" Alfred grinned cockily. He brought his lasso up, over his head and twirled it around for a bit before he threw it over Arthur and that man's heads. To Arthur, it was obvious Alfred missed. It hit the side of the store. But the man freaked out, he let go of Arthur, moving his gun away from Arthur's temple. Arthur reacted quickly, making sure to dodge away from the man. He got a good distance when he looked back to the man and Alfred.

Alfred had jumped down off of Freedom and used one hand to grip onto the man's shirt, pulling him close. "Gotcha," Alfred winked before he slammed his other hand, pulled into a fist, right into the man's face. The man fell back slightly from the impact, but he eventually fell limp, only being held up by Alfred, who soon dropped him.

"Y'see, Alfie?" Chuck said, coming up to them. Arthur looked behind him and saw several horses lined up, all of them empty with cowboys walking towards them. "If ya would've just taken mah gun, ya woulda solved that faster."

"Ah prefer to solve mah fights with mah fists, not guns," Alfred stated, turning towards Chuck. "Ah got the job done, didn't ah?"

"Barely," Chuck scoffed.

"Mah Lord, Alfie," a woman said as a crowd rushed around Alfred.

"Ya really are a hero!" one of them swooned.

All of a sudden, Arthur's legs seemed to turn to water and they couldn't support him. He fell hard onto the ground, his hands catching him before his back fell onto the ground. He could feel himself shaking. He wasn't that scared, was he? He let out a shaky breath to see if that could steady his nerves.

Alfred appeared in front of him, crouching down to be face-to-face with him.

"Ya alright there, Arthur?" he asked, tipping the hat up so Arthur could see his sky blue eyes.

"Fine," Arthur lied. He had never really experienced anything like that and his head was starting to hurt from the pressure that was just on his head.

"Don't worry!" Alfred said happily. "Ah would never let anythin' happen to ya! Yer safe with meh!"

"Unless his fancy lasso trick don't work," Chuck inputted, he was right behind Arthur, standing.

"Don' get mad at meh just 'cause ah don' like killin' people!" Alfred snapped, standing up. "Ah think this turned out better! At least this way he can go to jail, pay for his crime."

"Death is a perfect punishment, in mah opinion," Chuck stated.

"Well, no one asked for it," Jim's voice said. Arthur looked up and he saw that Jim was on a white horse with brown dots on it. "Alfie, do me a favor and let me borrow your rope?"

"Sure, Jim," Alfred nodded, walking over to where he dropped the man. Alfred, from what Arthur saw, was tying up the man tightly with his lasso. And then he handed the other end to Jim, who seemed to be tying it to his saddle.

"Best I wait for him to wake up so I can have him walk," Jim said. "Don't wanna wear out Betsy by draggin' him."

Chuck walked over to the two, on his way, stepping on Arthur's left hand. He didn't just step, he stomped on it, digging his foot into it for a second before continuing his walk. It hurt like hell and Arthur pulled the hand close, glaring at Chuck.

It didn't feel broken…just sore.

"So, ya gonna take all the credit this time, Alfie?" Chuck asked.

"Well, ah did get here first," Alfred stated.

"Only 'cause ya heard yer queer boyfriend was in trouble." Chuck crossed his arms.

"He's not mah boyfriend," Alfred said defensively, but his eyes were sad. Arthur stood up, still protecting his left hand.

"What was he tryin' to steal, anyway?" a woman asked them. Alfred looked down at the bag that the man had behind him. He knelt down and opened it up.

"Figures," Alfred chuckled. "Moonshine."

"What's moonshine?" Arthur asked.

"Illegal whisky, dude," Alfred laughed. "We get a few people tryin' to steal it ev'ry couple months."

"You're all lucky I don't sent your asses to jail," Jim chuckled. "I don't know why you all keep making that stuff."

"'Cause it's damn amazin'," Chuck laughed. A man who loved liquor and was rude off his ass. Seemed to Arthur that Chuck would get along great with his oldest brother.

The man tied up started to groan, signaling that he was waking up.

"I guess I better be off then," Jim sighed and kicked his horse lightly, getting her to move.

"See ya 'round," Chuck called after him once Jim got a little bit away. Chuck then walked over to Arthur's side and hugged his shoulders tightly. So tight, it hurt. A lot. "Hey, boys, how's about we show Artie home?"

"Uh," Arthur was about to talk, but Chuck squeezed tighter, earning a wince from Arthur. He stopped talking.

"Don' worry, buddy! We'll make sure ya get home safe!" Chuck said, turning himself and Arthur around. They started walking, but past Mary Lou's house. Past a lot of houses, in fact. Eventually, though, Chuck led him behind one of the houses. Arthur glanced behind them, and the whole gang that came on their horses were there, even Alfred.

"So, what exactly are you planning?" Arthur asked. "Not taking me home, obviously."

Before Arthur could say anymore to taunt Chuck, Arthur felt an immense amount of pain in his stomach. It felt like a fist, Arthur noticed, and he doubled over, groaning and coughing in pain.

"Ya damn, fucking queer," Chuck growled, grabbing onto both of Arthur's shoulders, making him stand up straight, and shoved him against the side of the house.

"God, wh-why are you-" Arthur was cut off by another punch right in his stomach. He wanted to double over again, but the hands on his shoulders wouldn't allow that.

"Do ah need a reason to beat your sorry ass up?" Chuck said darkly. "Besides, right 'bout now's the only time ah can do it. With both Mary Lou and Jim all gone."

Arthur glanced behind Chuck for a quick second. Most of the people around looked perfectly fine with what was happening. But Alfred looked horrified. Horrified and confused, like he didn't know what to do.

Arthur felt a sharp punch in his right shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Yer gonna look at meh when ah talk," Chuck warned.

"I'm sorry," Arthur retorted as best he could while trying to overcome pain. "I couldn't hear you talking over that garbling you were doing before. Perhaps you should try speaking intelligently and then I will know when you're talking."

Arthur could have kept going, but Chuck got angry. Both of his hands went to Arthur's right shoulder and they worked together to slam Arthur down onto the ground. His entire left side exploded in pain as he felt his head bang hard into the ground.

"Next time, don't be a smart ass, kid," Chuck said irritably. Arthur could see him back up slightly before running up to him, and then Arthur felt a kick right into his stomach. Arthur cried out in pain and coughed. He could have sworn he felt something like liquid come out of his mouth, and he couldn't stop coughing.

"See ya later then," Chuck's voice was close, Arthur couldn't tell how close, his eyes were closed. But, soon, Arthur felt a rough hand on his chin and Arthur forced himself to open his eyes to see Chuck's face right there. "Artie boy."

With that, Arthur was left alone to wallow in pain for a while, alone.

Eventually, Arthur forced himself to sit up, then stand. Looking down at the ground, Arthur saw a pool of blood where he was pretty sure his mouth was. Arthur straightened himself out the best he could and walked out from behind the house. He did his best not to limp or topple over in pain as he made his way slowly to the porch of Mary Lou's hosue, up the stairs, inside the sitting room, up the stairs, into his room.

Arthur tumbled onto the hard wood floor the second he closed the door to his room. God, he felt like shit. He curled up into a ball, right in front of the door to the room.

Now he knew why Mary Lou said she wanted to protect him.

Now he knew why Jim told him to watch his back.

Now he knew why Alfred hadn't told anyone.

Now…

He actually wanted to go home for once in his life.

* * *

**Four in a row! I actually wrote this yesterday, to be honest, that's the only reason this thing got updated today. He...he...he...**

**Yeah, so, the part with the theif, it's not totally pointless, even though I think some might think it is. He's there basically to show that Alfred still does care for Arthur, even though he says otherwise. Yeah, that's it...**

**Um, I'd like to draw attention back to my poll again, I really need to figure out what I'm going to do next after this one is done... Thanks to anyone who does so!**

**And please review. You can even tell me how horrible my thief is!**

**I do not own anything, I swear!**


	11. Chapter 11

Arthur sat there for a while, curled up into a ball. He didn't cry, he wasn't even mad. He was just in massive amounts of pain and didn't quite feel like moving. Eventually, though, he pushed himself up to a sitting position, and then he forced his legs to make himself stand.

He walked over to the desk that had the mirror on it and took a look at himself. Aside from his pale, worn-out face, he looked perfectly fine. Quickly, with shaky fingers, Arthur set to unbuttoning the vest. He took that off, discarding it on the floor. He then unbuttoned the white shirt he had on underneath and discarded that on the floor. He examined himself in the mirror again.

Without the shirt on, he could see bruises already forming. There were two, very small ones on his shoulder that didn't look like much. And then there were the three on his stomach. He was hoping Chuck had only hit one spot, but that wasn't the case. The bruises on his stomach looked gruesome. They had a sort of yellowish hue to them and that wasn't good. And then Arthur noticed that he had several small cuts going down the side of his left. That must have been from when he was pushed to the ground. Some rocks or something must have cut him…

Arthur immediately picked up the discarded clothes to check them for holes. Sure enough, there were scattered holes on the side of both articles that matched up with Arthur's cuts. Arthur sighed, but that caused a sharp pain in his left side. His hand immediately went to it. What could that be? There wasn't a bruise there…

Arthur walked over to the window quickly to look out, up into the sky. He found one that looked like a face with a cowboy hat on top of it. Below that cloud was what looked like a horse. And, next to the face, there was a thin cloud that looped around several times, it looked kind of like a lasso.

Arthur couldn't remember much after that. He remembered lying down on his bed, his back to the wall. And he remembered telling something to himself, but he couldn't quite remember what. After that, he blacked out.

* * *

"Oh, dear Lord," a voice said through Arthur's dreams. Arthur wearily opened his eyes to see Mary Lou standing in the doorway of his room.

Arthur realized he probably still had his shirt off, exposing his cuts and bruises. He sat up quickly, almost going to stand up. He was about to say something to her, when he felt a sharp pain in his left side, where he felt it before. Arthur winced and hissed at it.

"Sweetie, what happened?" Mary Lou rushed in front of him.

"I-I'm fine," Arthur said evenly.

"You can't lie to me, dear," Mary Lou said. "Jus' look at those bruises… An' what's that?"

Mary Lou reached her hand over to touch the cuts Arthur had on his left side. Her hand pressed right onto where Arthur was feeling that pain, so Arthur cried out.

"Gah! Please don't touch that," Arthur complained.

"Mah God," Mary Lou muttered. "Wait here," with that, she left the room, leaving the door wide open.

Arthur looked out the window briefly and found that the light outside was fading, turning to a gold over the sky. It would be pretty, if it weren't for the current circumstances.

It didn't take long for Mary Lou to rush back into the room. She was holding some kind of a box and she set it down on the bed, next to Arthur. She knelt down in front of him without saying a word and quickly started messing with things inside the box. Before Arthur had a chance to ask her what she was doing, Mary Lou produced a damp looking rag from the box and pressed it against the cuts on Arthur's side. Arthur immediately cringed away, it sent waves of pain through his body and he tried his best to get away, but Mary Lou made him stay put.

"Stay," she ordered him and Arthur silently obeyed.

"Jesus, what is that?" Arthur winced.

"It's a medicine ta make sure ya don' get infected," Mary Lou said, turning to mess with something else in the box.

"I-I can assure you, I'm fine," Arthur said quickly. "I don't want you to worry."

"Do ya look fine?" she snapped at him and Arthur stayed quiet. There was a long silence before Mary Lou spoke again. "Who did this to ya?"

"There was a robber at the store," Arthur decided to go with that story. He really didn't want Mary Lou to worry about him like this. She tentatively moved her hands to press down lightly on that painful spot in Arthur's side. Arthur winced, but kept going. "H-he tried to use me as leverage to get away clean."

"So, a thief did this to ya?" Mary Lou glanced up at him, disbelief in her eyes. Arthur nodded as she pulled out a long cloth from the box. She stood up and proceeded to wrap it around Arthur's waist at the same level of that spot. "When ah came back to town, Alfie and the others were celebratin', talkin' 'bout Alfie bein' a hero. Alfie said he saved ya from the theif before anythin' could happen to ya."

"That's just from what he saw," Arthur tried to force a lie out, but it didn't come out easily this time. "I was actually beat up pretty bad." Damn him and his truthfulness!

"Obviously," Mary Lou retorted.

"But, don't worry, I've been through worse," Arthur said quickly. This part was actually true. "My brothers and I would get into fights all the time. I'm…uh…not the strongest of us, so I would usually be a main target. I've handled a lot worse than this, so please don't worry. Scott once accidentally broke my arm before, too."

"Well, you've broken somethin' this time, too," Mary Lou commented, looking down at her box, like she wanted to get more out of it. "Probably a rib or two."

"I broke a rib?" Arthur asked, he could feel his eyes go wide. Was that what that pain was?

Mary Lou nodded, picking her box up off the ground. "Ah've seen it before, too. On Alfie. He got in a fight with Chuck the day his parents died. Chuck broke the ribs on his left side, too."

"I-I never said this was Chuck," Arthur said quickly. He didn't want this to involve Mary Lou. It was just best that she didn't worry.

"And ah never said it was," Mary Lou said simply She sighed. "Jus'… be a little more careful next time, okay?"

"Don't worry, I won't let it happen again," Arthur nodded to her.

She shook her head as she left, closing the door behind her as she mumbled something Arthur couldn't hear. Arthur quickly got up from his bed to look up at the sky. It was starting to get purple as the sun got further down over the horizon. But Arthur could still see the clouds in the sky. And the cowboy, horse, and lasso were still there, right where he left them. Arthur let out a sigh, cringing at the pain in his side.

He muttered to himself before he went to bed again, but this time he remembered what he said.

"My hero…I just have to wait…"

* * *

Arthur woke up famished. He realized soon after that, he hadn't eaten at all earlier. Arthur sat up, cringing slightly at the pain in his side, and walked over to the window. It looked like early morning, so Arthur had slept through the night. There were a few people out and about and a lot of people were just coming out of their homes. Arthur looked down, he still had his shoes on! Arthur silently groaned to himself and ran his fingers through his hair.

He quickly got the light blue shirt Mathew had given him and put that on. That was the only shirt he had that wasn't cut up. He couldn't put the vest on, either. Thankfully, the jeans were fine, as were the shoes.

Soon, Arthur stepped out of his room and went down the stairs to the main sitting room. The mayor was already lying down on the couch, but he was awake. The door to his office was ajar and he looked like he was staring at the ceiling, waiting to fall asleep. Mary Lou was in the kitchen, preparing something that Arthur couldn't see.

"Um, good morning," Arthur said to the mayor. Who, in response, grunted and nodded back at him.

"Mornin' Arthur," Mary Lou said chipperly. Arthur walked quickly over to the kitchen. "How'd ya sleep? You were out all day."

"Fine, thank you," Arthur said as he sat down quietly at the table on the chair furthest out. Then he added awkwardly. "Um, thank you for what you did for me yesterday, by the way."

"Not a problem, hun," Mary Lou turned around from what she was cooking. "Ah would still like to know the real reason for 'em, though."

"Um, well," Arthur rubbed the back of his head with his left hand, cringing in pain slightly as that pain came back.

"Ya can tell meh if it's Chuck," she crossed her arms.

"Oh, n-no, it wasn't," Arthur said quickly.

"If you wanna hide it, that's none of mah business," Mary Lou sighed, returning to her cooking. "But ah would appreciate if ya would stay inside for the day."

"Hm? Why?" Arthur asked.

"You need tah heal, dear," Mary Lou stated bluntly. "Ah can tell the rest yer sick, if ya want."

"I have to stay inside all day?" Arthur asked. "Just because of one, silly, little cracked rib?"

"Yes," Mary Lou said, going to the cabinets near her head to get dishes out. "If ya want to stay in mah house, ya better."

"Alright, fine then, I'll stay," Arthur sighed.

"But if ah catch ya sneakin' out," Mary Lou didn't finish her threat, she just started mumbling to herself angrily.

"Don't worry," Arthur said. "I-I won't."

"Good," Mary Lou sighed. She started putting whatever it was she was cooking onto plates she had just gotten out. "Bill, breakfast."

Maybe that was why Bill hadn't fallen asleep. He immediately got up off the couch and sat down at the table across from Arthur. They ate breakfast in silence until Bill finished. He got up, muttering something about how Mary Lou's food was "sub-par, as always." And then he disappeared behind that door to go to his office.

Once both Arthur and Mary Lou had finished, Mary Lou cleaned up and then headed towards the door to go out and do something.

"Remember to stay inside," Mary Lou told him as she headed out the door. Arthur nodded, even though he knew she couldn't see.

Arthur stayed sitting down at the table for a while. There really was going to be nothing to do today… He stood up eventually, though, and then headed up the stairs. He was tempted to sit in the sitting room up there, but there was nothing quite to do in there. At least, in his room he could watch out the window and maybe get some entertainment from that.

And so Arthur entered his room, kicked his shoes off, and leaned against his windowsill to see if there was anyone outside. He didn't have to look far, though.

Right underneath him, standing on the porch with his hat pressed between his hand and his chest, was Alfred. He looked about ready to knock on the door, his hand was poised and everything to do it. But he just stood there. Eventually, he tore away from the door and started pacing. At first, it was on the porch, but then he moved to the ground in front of it. He looked like he was mumbling to himself and Arthur was curious as to what it was. So, silently, Arthur opened up his window. It split into two pieces and opened up wide to both sides. Arthur leaned over the sill to see if he could hear Alfred better that way.

"Why the hell can't I do it?" Alfred sounded like he was yelling at himself. "I'm so stupid! It's not that hard! God! Why can't I do it!" Alfred kicked the ground as hard as he could and stood there, standing at the ground for a while before he sunk down to his knees, dropping his hat on the ground. "What the hell is wrong with me!" If Arthur listened closely enough, he could have sworn he heard Alfred's voice quaver, almost like he was crying…

Arthur was about to just close the window and retreat back into his room, but he remembered the clouds from yesterday, all that happened…

"You know, it's not very becoming for a man to cry," Arthur called down to Alfred. Alfred nearly jumped out of his skin. He stood up quickly and looked around to see where the voice was coming from. Eventually, though, he looked up to Arthur and his face turned a bright red.

"I wasn't cryin'!" Alfred yelled at him defensively.

"I never said you were," Arthur rested his elbow on the window sill and then rested his head on that same hand.

"Well, it's freakin' hard not to!" Alfred complained, kicking up dirt right in front of him. "Life's shit, ya know. An'… and…"

"I haven't yet," Arthur said.

"What?" Alfred looked up abruptly at Arthur.

"I said I haven't cried yet," Arthur stated. "I haven't cried since I was a little child. I just decided it was about time I stopped. So I did."

"God, Arthur, I'm sorry…" Alfred muttered, looking back down to the ground. His hands were balled up into fists at his sides. "I said I was gonna be a hero, and then I just stood by and watched as you get the shit beat outta ya! And I didn't even stay behind to make sure you were okay!"

"But I'm fine," Arthur said. "Obviously."

"Mary Lou said you were sick…" Alfred muttered. "I figured that meant that you hadn't recovered yet."

"In all honesty, I believe I have," Arthur sighed. "It's just a few bruises, is all. But she insists I stay inside, so I will."

"But, Arthur, I-" Alfred tried to talk, but Arthur cut him off.

"Alfred!" Arthur snapped. He was no longer resting his head on his hand. Both of his hands were gripping onto the sill of the window as he leaned over to get a good look at Alfred. The sudden outburst caused Alfred to shut up and look up at Arthur. Arthur sighed. "I want you to know that I don't care. I don't care what any of the others here think. They can do whatever the bloody hell they want. I just want to make sure _you _know what you're doing. You're obviously lost, I can see that. And I understand, I want you to know that. I am willing to wait for you to decide what you want to do, as long as that may take. But I don't care about them. Understand? I know how it feels to be in your position with this kind of thing, but it's up to you to decide what you are going to do. I am willing to wait until you make your decision."

"B-but…" Alfred looked like he was about to say something, but he shook his head furiously. "Thank you… I never thought I was worth waiting for…"

"It's up to you to decide whether or not you are," Arthur sighed, but then he smiled. "As long as you're going to be a hero, though, I figure I'm fine waiting."

"Really?" Alfred asked.

Arthur was about to reply, when he heard a familiar, obnoxious voice coming up to the house. Arthur quickly retreated back into the room and sat on his bed. He left the window open, just because he was curious to see what was being said.

"Alfie, watcha doin' over here?" Chuck's voice asked.

"Jus' on mah way to the store," Alfred's voice said quickly.

"Ya sure ya ain't stalkin' Artie boy?" Chuck laughed.

"No, ah'm not," Alfred snapped.

"Hey, ah got mahself a mighty fine idea, if ah do say so mahself," Chuck boasted.

"Look out or yer brain jus' might explode," Alfred retorted.

"Shut it," Chuck snapped before continuing. "Miss Mary Lou said Artie boy was sick, yeah? So, he'll be up in his room, yeah? What if we throw one of these up there, see if we hit 'im."

"What? Why would ya do that?" Alfred asked nervously.

"Relax, Alfie, it's like target practice."

"Ah haven't participated in yer target practice," Alfred snapped. "Ah hate guns."

"Whatever, just take this, an' then throw," Chuck said. "It's easy, jus' watch."

Before Arthur knew it, something small and black rocketed through the window and slammed loudly against the wood of the wall before tumbling down onto the ground. Arthur looked down at it and it looked like a stone.

"An' the window's open, too!" Chuck said loudly. "Easy target, ah'd say."

"Ah'm not throwin' this in there!" Alfred argued.

"Ya scared, pretty boy?" Chuck teased.

"This ain't workin' on meh again," Alfred snapped.

"Too much of a queer to throw a rock?"

"Dammit! You will shut up!" another stone rocketed through and slammed against the wall after Alfred finished talking. "There! Now leave meh alone!"

"Ya didn't even aim!" Chuck laughed. "I bet ya missed 'im by a mile!"

"Ah did so aim!" Alfred argued.

"Hey, boys," Chuck called out. Great, he had his posse with him. "Le's throw all of 'em at once. One of us is bound to hit 'im after a while!"

"What! No!" Alfred tried to argue, but Arthur soon witnessed as several stones smashed against the wall at once, all making the same thudding sound. Some of them got close, just barely whisking past Arthur's face, and others nearly hit the door, they were so off. Arthur stood up, about ready to go and close the window to prevent any more from coming in. But, just as soon as he stood up, he felt a sharp pain in the side of his head.

All of his body went limp as he tumbled to the floor. The stone collided perfectly with his temple. Arthur's eyes began to close as he heard voices talking again.

"What the hell are y'all doin' 'round mah house!" It was Mary Lou, Arthur could vaguely make it out with the pounding in his skull. "Good, Lord, the window's open! Arthur!"

Arthur's eyes closed and the last thing he heard was Chuck's dark chuckle fade further and further away.

* * *

**And my fifth in a row ends in more violence. Sorry.**

**From reading all y'alls reviews, I noticed a lot of you...okay all of you wanted Arthur to be mad at Alfred. But the point of this story is romance... And so what I've settled on doing is Arthur doesn't care. He's been beat up in the past and he doesn't care if it happens again. He just wants what's best for Alfred. And Alfred doesn't know what that is yet. It may look like Arthur's the main character, but Alfred's the one going through the big change in this story. Just saying.**

**Thanks to those who reviewed last chapter, and please review this chapter, too, it would make me so very happy! Also, I'm directing attention to mah pole again. Ah really need help decidin' what ah'm gonna be doin' next after this is over, so please help meh out there!**

**And I own nothing but the random accent I have come up with that I'm pretty sure probably isn't even Western.**


	12. Chapter 12

Arthur woke up in his bed with his head throbbing, especially on the right side. He sat up slowly, holding onto his head. He tried to recall what happened, why his head hurt so bad, but nothing came up, it was all just clouded. He stood up shakily and went to the mirror in his room. He had a bandage wrapped around his head, going around at forehead level.

Arthur quickly tore the thing off and he noticed that there was a bruise right around his temple. He touched it gingerly and found it was extremely painful. Arthur sighed, why did this have to happen again?

Trying to remember the events before, Arthur strolled over to the window. He remembered that, before, it was mid-morning, maybe even close to noon. It didn't look like much time had passed since then. His window was closed, and Arthur had a feeling it was open before…

"DAMMIT!" Arthur nearly jumped at the loud voice booming, the sound even coming through the walls of the house. Arthur looked over to where he heard it, and that was when he saw Alfred and Mathew's house.

A few of the windows looked like they had stones thrown in them. Arthur craned his neck to see if he could look into any of the rooms, but he couldn't. Before he had a chance to do anything else, Alfred stormed out of the house.

"CHUCK!" he screamed, slamming the door that was already only half on its hinges. It fell to the ground. Alfred looked beyond angry, he looked about ready to kill as he stormed off through the town.

Arthur immediately put his shoes on and ran down the stairs, ignoring the pain in his side. He didn't really care anymore if Mary Lou caught him outside the house, so he ran outside and started for Alfred and Mathew's house. Before he got very far, though, that herd of girls surrounded him again.

"Hey, Artie, where ya been?"

"Were ya really sick all day?"

"Is that a bruise?"

"Wheredya get it?"

Arthur stopped them all, stepping out of the crowd. "I am deeply sorry, I just have other things to attend to right now, goodbye."

As Arthur turned away from them, he heard them start to talk some more.

"I told ya you couldn't do it!"

"Ah can do it."

"Like he would fall in love with you!"

So that was what all that attention was about… They were trying to get him to like women…

Arthur started running again and went up the stairs of Alfred and Mathew's porch, again ignoring a sharp pain in his side. He stepped into the doorway, expecting something bad to have happened to the sitting room or the kitchen, but they seemed perfectly fine. Mathew rushed to him.

"Alfred, thank God you decided not to…" he stopped, seeing that it was Arthur, not Alfred. "Arthur?"

"What happened to make Alfred so mad?" Arthur asked. The only thing that seemed wrong was the windows and the door.

"Arthur, why are you up and walking around already?" Mathew asked him worriedly.

"What are you talking about, I'm fine," Arthur said.

"You are not fine, Arthur," Mathew argued. "Do you not remember getting hit?"

"Hit by what?" Arthur asked. Was he talking about Chuck punching him all those times?

"That stone Chuck through the window," Mathew said, looking at him nervously. "A-Alfred told me about it, after he helped Mary Lou look you over and bandage your head. You can't have recovered already."

"How long ago did that happen?" Arthur asked.

"It's been a couple of days," Mathew said sadly.

"A-A couple of days?" Arthur stuttered.

"Alfred came to see you a lot," Mathew said helpfully. "I-I only went once or twice, but you didn't look very good."

"I feel fine," Arthur lied. His head was still throbbing, his side still ached, and all of his bruises were causing a lot of pain. But, he still forced himself to stand up straight. "But, please tell me, what made Alfred so…"

"U-upstairs," Mathew looked down at the ground. "We went out for a ride on our horses and…"

Arthur didn't wait for him to finish. He ran up the stairs, wincing at his side. The two doors on the right looked untouched. However, the door on the left, was hanging off of a hinge. Arthur went over to the doorway to look inside.

It was destroyed. The bed was turned over, all of the drawers in the dresser were pulled onto the floor, the clothes scattered everywhere. The mirror on the desk was shattered and the makeup on it was spilled everywhere. The chair's legs were broken and the dress that was sitting on top of it was torn in half. The sheets and the curtains were no longer pure white, they were covered in dirt and dust.

"Dear God," Arthur muttered.

"Alfred went into this room every day to make sure that it stayed perfect. It may not look like it, but he can actually be pretty neat and tidy when it comes to certain things." Mathew was right behind Arthur. "This room was his last connection, I think, to our parents. And Chuck ruined it."

"H-how do you know it was Chuck?" Arthur asked.

"Who else would do something like this?" Mathew asked.

Arthur felt himself clenching his hands into fists. That was it, this was the last straw. Chuck just seemed so intent on ruining him and Alfred's lives. Arthur had to set him straight. He realized he may not be very strong, but he knew that he might be able to do something…

Arthur stormed down the stairs and out of the house, ignoring Mathew protesting him and telling him to go back to Mary Lou's house. Arthur set off searching around town, much like Alfred did. Figuring he knew where Chuck might be, Arthur set off behind the row of houses, the ones that were closer to the river. While Arthur was walking around, he felt something wet hit his nose. Then his head, then his ear. The drops came faster and faster, until it started pouring rain.

How long had it been raining like this while he was asleep? He knew those clouds would have brought rain, but how much?

The closer Arthur got to the river, the more he heard it. He could hear the water travelling quickly as he came close enough to see it. He could see the water rush past at break-neck speed and he could also see something that he hadn't seen before when he was at the river. There were rocks. A lot of rocks. It looked deep enough so that, if you just stuck your feet in, it would be no problem. But, if a whole person went in, they would be in trouble.

Suddenly, Arthur felt pressure on his back, enough to push him over onto the ground. It hurt his head and side, more than anything, but he refused to cry out. Arthur quickly turned around and stood up. Sure enough, Chuck was right there, his group around him.

"Hey there, Artie boy," he grinned. "Didn't expect to see ya outta bed this soon."

"Chuck, I-" Arthur was about to talk, tell him off, but he stopped when something hard, a fist, hit him directly in the face. Arthur stumbled backwards slightly, but someone behind him shoved him off in another direction. Someone over there, caught him and shoved him in a completely different direction. This went on for a while, in a dizzying circle for Arthur, until someone stopped him, gripping hard onto his shoulders. Arthur was walked backwards a little bit, far too discombobulated to do anything.

Blurrily, Chuck came into Arthur's view. He was the one gripping onto his shoulder.

"See ya later, Artie boy," Chuck grinned as he pushed Arthur backwards slightly, letting go.

Arthur tried to bring one of his feet back to catch himself, but there was nothing underneath it to put it on. Arthur's eyes widened as he looked behind himself. He was falling into the river. He tried to flail his arms to bring himself upright, but that did nothing. Soon, he was plunged into the water.

It was freezing, to say the least. Arthur was shoved by the current downstream, his head and body slammed against the several rocks scattered at the bottom. Every time Arthur felt his face break the water, he tried gasping for air, but that usually ended up with him breathing in water. The torture seemed like it would never end. It lasted for what felt like an eternity. Arthur knew he would probably drown if nothing changed soon.

Out of nowhere, Arthur felt something grab onto his arms. The current still continued, though, pulling the rest of his body downstream. The force on Arthur's arms pulled him up, causing his head to come out of the water. He automatically started coughing out the water and breathing for air. He tried to do both at the same time, but that didn't turn out well.

Eventually, he was pulled completely out of the water and onto something that felt soft and nice and warm. Arthur used whatever strength he had left in him to go onto his hands and knees and cough and breath and cough and breath…

He still felt the rain pouring onto his back as he dared himself to open his eyes. He saw trees. Arthur sat up right quickly and looked around, still breathing in air quickly. He was shaking, he could tell that by looking down at his hands.

A hand shakily touching his back, soothingly rubbing up and down.

"Y-you gonna be okay?" a scared voice asked.

"No," Arthur muttered with a gravelly voice.

"Shit, this shouldn't be happening to you…" the voice said nervously. "J-just look at you!"

"God, I know!" Arthur snapped. "Shut up about it…"

"A-Arthur, I'm sorry," the voice muttered. Arthur recognized it as Alfred's voice. "It's all my fault this is happening to you…"

"Yeah," Arthur coughed and sucked in a deep breath. His head was pounding in his skull, it was all he could do right now to stay awake. And his side with the cracked rib was killing him. He felt several more cuts and bruises already just by sitting there.

"I-I'm just fed up with it already!" Alfred cried out. "I just wanna leave! There are only, like three good people in this town! I just want to go away!"

There was a long silence.

"You should come with me."

"What?" Arthur looked up at Alfred, his voice still hoarse.

"I'm gonna run away with Mattie!" Alfred said excitedly. "You should come with us!"

"What the hell are you-"

"Just hear me out!" Alfred said. "We can get away from everyone here, and…and not have to worry about this happening again to us! We don't even need to find a town to live in, we can just make our own house in the middle of nowhere and not even care about the outside world!"

"I-I," Arthur coughed horribly, and he winced at his side.

"I don't want to live in this town anymore!" Alfred whined. "Ever since my parents died, it's all gone downhill! There was a new mayor after Pa died and…and he just sucks! And now no one'll listen to Jim anymore because his wingman's gone! No one even listens to reason anymore! It's been 10 years and no one has turned up that has tried to make sense of it anymore! A-at first I thought Chuck would try! But, even though he's only been here three years, he's turned everyone to shit! I just…I just…" He couldn't finish, he just burst into tears. "I can't take it anymore!"

Arthur watched as the scene unfolded before him. Alfred had turned into a mess in just a matter of minutes. Arthur blinked a few times before asking. "A-Alfred… If that's how you feel…"

"You have no idea how many times I've wanted to run away!" Alfred yelled out, his head was in his hands now. "Just forget about the world and ride and ride until I just died! I would ride off the end of the Earth and nothing could harm me after that! Mathew was the only reason I stayed!"

"Alfred…"

"But if we run away, we won't have to worry about it anymore! A-And we could just forget the town and just the rest of the world! That's all I want! I just want to get away!"

"I know how that feels," Arthur muttered. "And I know that's not what you want to do."

"What?" Alfred looked up at him.

"I wanted to get away, and I was being stupid and immature," Arthur sighed. "When I left, I figured out that the real world isn't what you would expect it to be… You can't run away from the world, just your own problems…which will only come back to you again later."

Alfred looked at Arthur for a while. They sat there quietly, just staring at each other. Alfred moved first, leaning towards Arthur, cupping his chin, and kissing him. Arthur leaned in and closed his eyes. All of his pain washed away for the mere seconds that they were connected, until Alfred separated them. He stayed close, though.

"Thank you for saving me," Arthur muttered, trying to appeal to Alfred's hero complex. Make him at least a little happier.

"I think you just saved me…" Alfred muttered, and pulled out an obviously forced smile.

* * *

Alfred brought Arthur home soon after that. Mary Lou was beyond pissed by the time she saw Arthur. Without even a thank you to Alfred, she forced Arthur inside and began looking him over.

After about an hour of bandaging in almost every place (Mary Lou was classy and told Arthur to take care of that "other bit" by himself), Mary Lou forced Arthur to go to bed.

It was still pouring rain outside, so Arthur wound up falling asleep.

And dreaming of home.

* * *

**Sixth in a row, and my streak ends here. I am going camping over the weekend, so you'll have to wait until Monday for another update! Sorry!**

**And I'm sorry about the ending of the chapter. That was me just being lazy, mixed with me being exhausted, and being hungry and dinner being on the table. So, yeah, sorry about the ending.**

**More attention brought back to my pole. It seems like people want "Kidnapped" the most so far, so that may be what I write after I finish "Salem Alfred Traials"...**

**Please review! I got a lot of positive feedback last chapter, most of it was long reviews, which I am ever so thankful for! I love all of you that have reviewed already and I know the number of people who read it is far higher than the number of people that review. Please review! Please?**

**And I own nothing! I swear!**


	13. The End

Arthur woke up the next day with his head and side still throbbing. He thought that they probably would never stop, at this rate. Arthur sighed and forced himself to stand up. He glanced out the window, it was around midday. The sky looked clear of any clouds, had it cleared of rain already?

And then Arthur, quickly realizing that Mary Lou had insisted he get out of his sopping wet clothes before he went to bed, dashed over to his suitcase. His jeans were probably still soaked, and so he decided to put his dress pants on. Once he was finished with that, he decided to check that mirror one more time.

His torso was covered with new cuts and bruises, probably from the rocks in the river. And then there was his face… Arthur nearly gasped at the sight of a dark bruise surrounding his right eye. And then there was a large cut on his forehead and his bottom lip. On top of all that, he looked almost a sickly pale. His eyes looked brighter than the rest of his body, the only thing showing that he was still alive.

There was a knock at the front door below him and Arthur heard Mary Lou open the door.

"Yes, whaddya want, young man?" she asked.

"Yeah, y'seen a Arthur Kirkland 'round?" Arthur froze. He knew that voice anywhere. No, no, no, why did he have to be here? Not now.

"Yes," Mary Lou said. "Might ah ask who's lookin' for 'im?"

"Sco'," the voice replied and Arthur twitched. "Sco' Kirkland."

"Well then," Mary Lou said, she sounded surprised. "He's right upstairs. First door on yer left."

"Thanks," there were heavy steps underneath Arthur.

"Um, ah should warn ya…" Mary Lou tried to talk, but the footsteps were already up the stairs.

Arthur quickly picked up the white shirt he wore the day before, not caring that it was sobbing wet, and started frantically buttoning the thing up. He definitely did not want him seeing him all cut up and bruised like this. He had just finished buttoning the collar, his back to the door, when it opened. Arthur flinched.

"There y'are!" he said proudly, boasting his familiar Scottish accent. "I though' I'd nehver find ya."

_Bullocks. _Scott walked over to Arthur and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"So this's where ye wehnt ofter when wehn kicked ye…" Scott turned him around, Arthur's face wincing as he did so, terrified of what he might do. He looked just like Arthur had left him. His flaming red hair was still in a mess and his green eyes were boring into him. "Wha' te fuckin' hell!"

"I-I'm fine!" Arthur said quickly, assuring his older brother. "I swear!"

"Who te hell did this te ya!" Scott demanded, moving his hand to touch Arthur's black eye, none too gently either.

"Not important," Arthur grunted. "Why are you here, anyway?"

"I came te brin' ye back, I knew ye could nee handle yerself," Scott gripped onto Arthur's shoulders tightly. Arthur gasped in pain, his left hand was right on a bruise. "Take off yer shir'."

"What?" Arthur demanded.

"Take off yer shir', kid," Scott growled and Arthur sighed. He unbuttoned the shirt obediently and let it fall to the ground. Scott looked at him with amazement for a short while. "I knew ye couldn' handle yerself!"

"I can handle myself just fine!" Arthur argued back.

"Obviously, ye can nee," Scott poked at one of Arthur's bruises that took up his stomach and Arthur flinched in pain.

"How did you even find me?" Arthur decided to change the subject, stooping down to pick up his shirt from the ground.

"I's no' tha' hard te find a bri' wi' blonde hair an' gian' ass eyebrows," Scott scowled. "'Specially in Ameica."

Arthur sighed, going to button up his shirt.

"Everythin' alright up here?" Mary Lou asked tentatively, stepping into the room.

"Yeah," Scott said. "Jus' abou' te take Ar'ie home."

"No, you weren't!" Arthur argued. "I'm fine here and you can just leave me alone."

"No, yer comin' wi' meh," Scott growled, grabbing onto Arthur's arm.

"Like Hell I am!" Arthur tore his arm away, and winced at the pain it gave him.

"Why ya wanna stay here s'bad?" Scott snapped. "Tha' queer kid, Alfred?"

"How could you tell he was-?" Arthur started, but didn't finish.

"Any kid who ac's like tha' when a lady asks fer a marriage is gonna beh a faggo'," Scott stated.

"Marriage?" Arthur blinked.

"Um, Scott…" Mary Lou tried to warn, but Scott just grinned and kept going.

"So, I take i' ye do lik'im," he said triumphantly.

"What do you mean by marriage?" Arthur could feel a knot start to form in his stomach.

"A girl ask'ed him, a crowd came, an' he said 'yes,'" Scott informed. "Did nee look too happy 'bout I'."

"So this is happening now?" Arthur asked.

"Yeah," Scott said.

Arthur dove to where he had placed his shoes and wasted no time shoving them onto his feet.

"Arthur, you shouldn't-" Mary Lou tried to talk, but Arthur was already running down the stairs. He left the front door wide open and nearly tripped down the stairs on the porch.

He had a gut feeling where it was taking place, so he started running as fast as he could to the main hall, where the party was. He had all but forgotten the bruises and cuts that should have been causing him pain.

No. This shouldn't be happening.

There was a few people going into the door when he got there, and he squeezed by them.

There was surprisingly a huge crowd inside and Arthur couldn't even see who he was searching for. Everyone was silent, though, so Arthur could hear what was happening in the front of the room.

"So, Alfie, ya take Veronica forever, right?" It was Chuck's voice and Arthur could feel himself twitch.

"Um…uh…" Alfred was stuttering.

"Alfie?" Veronica's voice asked delicately.

"I…um, I guess…I-I do…"

Arthur's world froze. Did Alfred really just…He couldn't have…He…

Chuck's voice continued as Arthur slowly turned around. He walked past the people still coming in to see what was going on, and headed back out the door. Maybe he would just go back home after all…

"Actually, no," a voice yelled interrupting Chuck. It took Arthur a while to realize it was Alfred. He stuck his foot out to hold the door open.

"What?" Veronica did not sound amused.

"I said no," Alfred's voice was more sure of itself this time.

"Kid, ya don' know what yer doin'," Chuck said.

"No, I finally do," Arthur realized Alfred had disbanded his accent.

"Alfie," Veronica warned with a growl.

"Don't you find it kinda weird that the girl asked the guy?" Alfred asked.

"Ah see now problem with it," Veronica countered.

"I do. Did Chuck make ya do it?" Alfred asked.

"No, he didn't."

"Ah, just made her realize sumtin' that was right in front of her," Chuck said.

"I'm sorry Veronica, but," Alfred's voice became nervous and Arthur craned himself so he could hear better. "But…I-I'm a…a…" There was a long pause, before Alfred yelled out. "I'm a queer!"

That got the crowd talking. It seemed like everyone was about to go into a panic.

"Alfie, are ya just doin' this 'cause ya hate me, or sumtin'?" Veronica asked shakily.

"N-no!" Alfred said. "You're a fine girl, but I-"

"If yer so sure you're a faggot," Chuck teased, "then why doncha c'mere an' gimme a kiss?"

"Um, no," Alfred said bluntly. "That's disgusting, dude."

"Y'scared, Alfie?" a person from the audience teased.

"Not enough of a queer to kiss am an?" a woman teased.

"No, I've kissed a man," Alfred commented. "But chuck's just-"

"So, what happened to yer accent?" another person from the audience asked.

"Look, I would _love _to stand her and talk," Alfred's sarcasm was obvious, "but I have to go find someone."

"Yer crush?" Chuck challenged as Arthur heard someone running.

"Yes," Alfred's voice was close.

Before Arthur had a chance to move, something heavy rammed into him, knocking him to the ground, the heavy object right on top of him.

"Oh, hey, Arthur," Alfred smiled at him, he was the heavy object.

"You know, you're right on my broken ribs," Arthur informed.

"You have broken ribs?" Alfred's eyes grew wide.

"Yes, and they hurt," Arthur snapped. "If you could get your fat arse off of me that would be nice."

"Sorry," Alfred scrambled off him and Arthur sat up slowly clutching his head.

"It's fine," Arthur said. "Did you really just do that in there?"

"You tell me," Alfred grinned and cupped Arthur's chin. He pulled Arthur closer, closing his eyes and their lips connected. Arthur closed his eyes, too, but it didn't last long.

"So, ya finally got tired of yer boyfriend takin' the fall fer ya," Chuck said behind them. Alfred separated them and turned around. With them sitting on the ground, Chuck seemed to be towering over them. Alfred stood up quickly and Arthur followed suit. "A see mah handiwork hasn't worn off yet."

"Arthur?" Mary Lou's voice ran out behind them. Arthur looked and saw that Scott was with her. Great.

"Chuck, I'd suggest you step away from these boys," Jim appeared now, next to Chuck. He did not look like he was a good mood at all.

"You gonna make meh?" Chuck challenged, turning to him.

Jim pulled out a pistol that looked like it was tucked into his pants behind him. "Yes," he said, cocking his gun and pointing it right in thie middle of Chuck's face.

"Woah, woah, woah," Chuck said, his voice turning to a quaver. "W-Watcha doin' with that?"

"I've got enough evidence to bring your ass into jail for what you've done to that poor kid," Jim stated.

"Ah've done nothing to either of these kids!" Chuck protested and Alfred snorted.

"You've brought Arthur close to death twice," Jim said. "That stone you threw at his head, had that been a centimeter to the left, it would have put him into a coma. When you shoved him into the river, he could have hit his head and possibly drowned."

"Ya got no proof ah did any of that," Chuck crossed his arms in front of himself cautiously.

"I've got Arthur's cuts and bruises, for one thing," Jim grinned. "Then ah got Mary Lou who's been taking care of him. Then there's your little group. Under gun point, I'm positive they would have no qualms about going against you."

"Hey, look," Chuck turned to negotiating. "What can ah do to get mahself outta this?"

"Leave," Jim said bluntly.

"What?" Chuck asked.

"I've wanted to say this since the day you got into town," Jim said happily, his gun still pointed at Chuck. "Leave."

"You've gotta be kiddin' meh," Chuck said with disbelief.

"You've got 3 options. Jail, getting shot right here, right now, or running away like the coward I know you are. It's your decision. But I'll help you make it if ya can't decide."

"Ah-ah can't just…run," Chuck gulped.

"Why not, Chuck?" Alfred spoke up and Arthur saw him grinning like crazy. "I'm pretty sure you got your own horse. That's the only thing in this town you actually own, right?"

Chuck started sputtering, like he didn't know what to do.

"Oi, le' me ge' this straigh'," Scott came up to them now, carelessly slinging an arm over Chuck's shoulders. "Yer the on tha's been bea'ing on my li'le brother?"

"You're on of Arthur's brothers?" Jim asked calmly.

"Yeah," Scott smiled his signature smile. Arthur hadn't noticed that they had an audience until he heard all the women sigh dreamily. Arthur would have rolled his eyes at them, if it weren't for the current situation. "Personally," Scott turned his attention back to Chuck. "I would run 'fore I go' the chance to bea' yer ass all th'way te Hell, where i' belongs."

Chuck glanced around at everyone as if expecting to get help from someone. When no help came, Chuck ran with shaking knees off in the direction of the stables.

Alfred and Scott started laughing, both of them nearly falling over. Jim stored his gun back in its original place.

"Were you really prepared to shoot him?" Arthur asked.

"Nah," Jim shrugged. "Anyone who knows me knows my gun never has bullets in it."

"I've known that since I was 8!" Alfred said amidst his laughter.

"Ah still think ya shoulda brough 'im in," Mary Lou sighed, coming up to Jim's side.

"Hey," Alfred said, snapping out of his laughing fit. "Since we're already on track of getting rid of people, I have an idea!" He grabbed onto Arthur's wrist. "Jim, follow me, please." He started running, dragging Arthur with him.

"You could have just told me to follow you as well," Arhtur said, wincing at all the pain he was getting from running.

"It's more fun this way," Alfred said happily as they came up to his and Mathew's house. "Be right back." Alfred ran inside just as Jim came up to Arthur.

"Any idea what he's planning?" he asked Arthur, panting slightly form the run.

"No idea," Arthur sighed.

"Got it!" Alfred ran out of the house and down the porch waving around a folded up piece of paper.

"What is that?" Arthur asked.

"What does it look like?" Alfred looked like he couldn't contain his happiness. "It's a piece of paper!"

"Is that-" Jim tried to talk but Alfred cut him off.

"Sh! You'll spoil the surprise!" Alfred winked, grabbing onto Arthur again and running again. He stopped dead in front of Mary Lou's house. He waited for Jim to come up to it before he paraded up the stairs and right into the house.

"Wait here," Alfred ordered then and ran through the door that led to the office. He made sure to close the door behind him.

"Is he doing what I think he's doing?" Jim asked.

"What do you think he's doing?" Arthur asked.

They stared in silence for a while, like Jim was speechless. It didn't even sound like there was talking in the office. After what seemed like forever to Arthur, Alfred marched out of the office, holding two pieces of paper now.

"Congrats, Jim," Alfred said happily, handing Jim the piece of paper that wasn't folded.

Jim took and read it, his eyes widening quickly.

"A-Alfie…how did you…"

"You've always wanted to be mayor, right?" Alfred said happily.

"You made him mayor?" Arthur asked, nearly speechless.

"Jim and Pa always talked about how, when Pa was gone, Jim would be mayor. He always had a feeling he was gonna die before ya, Jim."

"But I could never prove that," Jim looked at the paper with disbelief.

"I have this," Alfred said, unfolding the other piece of paper. "Pa wrote it a while ago, when I was 4, and gave it to me for safe keeping. I've kept it in the back of the top drawer in my dresser."

"I had no idea he wrote a will," Jim blinked. "I-I just can't believe this is real."

"Yeah," Alfred smiled happily. "I think that was the first thing of business Bill even did in his life. He has surprisingly good handwriting, right?"

"Yes, he…he does," Jim muttered.

"C'mon," Alfred said happily, leading them outside and down the stairs of the porch. "You gotta tell everyone the good news!"

"What good news?" Mary Lou asked, coming up to the trio, followed again by Scott.

"Jim's the new mayor!" Alfred spouted out before Jim had a chance to say anything.

"Really?" Mary Lou's eyes widened. "That's wonderful news!"

Alfred nodded. "And you get to keep the house. Meaning Arthur has a place to live."

"If I'm permitted to stay, that is," Arthur said, glancing at his older brother.

"Had my doubts, kid," Scott came up, placing a hand on Arthur's shoulder. He glanced at Alfred. "Bu' I think you'll beh fine."

"Thank you," Arthur sighed.

"I'm gonna visi' some'imes," Scott warned, though. "Ye ge' anymore o'these," he pointed at Arthur's black eye, "Ye don' ge' a choice, yer goin' home."

"Don't worry!" Alfred wrapped an arm around Arthur's waist and pulled his close, earning a blush from Arthur. "I'll keep him safe!"

"I have a feeling you may cause me pain just be being your clumsy self," Arthur remarked, trying in vain to get out of Alfred's grip.

"Alfred!" Mathew yelled (as best as he could with his small voice) running up to them.

"I knew someone was missing from this!" Alfred laughed.

"I-I heard about what happened with Chuck. Are you two alright?" he stopped the second he got a good look at Arthur. "Jesus Christ, are you okay, Arthur?"

""Don't worry," Arthur smiled at him. "I'll be fine."

"Didn' expec' t'see twins," Scott laughed. "Be'er ge' goin' te tell ev'ryone yer alrigh'. Francis' been worried sick."

"Francis has been worried about me?" Arthur laughed.

"Ev'ryone's been worried, ye idio'," Scott messed up Arthur's already horribly messed up hair.

"Well, you better go before all the girls start latching onto you," Arthur laughed.

Arthur stood with Alfred, Jim, Mathew, and Mary Lou, watching as Scott, his last chance at going home, walked off into a sunset.

"I just realized something!" Alfred said happily and Arthur felt that all-too-familiar hat plop onto his head. "I can call ya Artie again!"

Normally, Arthur would have protested. But, now, he couldn't help but let out a laugh.

Maybe this town really wasn't going to be so bad after all.

* * *

**I'm so sad to tell y'all that this is the very, very end! But I'm also very happy, because now I can focus on other projects!**

**Also, a bit of warning to those of you writers out there, don't write Scott. He's a pain in the ass to write, especially when you suck at accents like I do.**

**Thanks to all of you who have reviewed this whole time and I love and respect you all!**

**Last time I have to do this for this story...I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!**


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